Sports Games Don’t Seem to Appeal to PC Gamers
Whenever a commercial plays with people hanging out and playing video games, you either se e one of two things; they’re either playing a multiplayer FPS, usually Call of Duty or some generic knockoff, or they’re heavily invested in some sports related video game. Sports Games, as a genre, have a great level of visibility in mainstream culture, and while there’s occasionally a major release for consoles, they seem conspicuously absent for PC gaming outlets.
In fact, games that have a Sports tag on the Steam Store make up less than 7% of the total products available for sale. From the outside looking in, this seems a little shocking. Is there a reason for this seeming lack of interest in sports game from the PC community, or is the genre simply dead?
Are PC Gamers Not Interested?
NBA 2k17, the only sports game in the top 3 bestsellers list in the Sports section of the Steam Store.
The Top Sellers list for the Sports section shows that the current bestseller is the racing game Rocket League, followed by the newest installment of the fighting game franchise Tekken because this is a different genre on its own, with NBA 2K17 dragging behind in third. While this might be splitting hairs, NBA 2K17 is the only one that is strictly a sports game.
Racing and Fighting games make up a large portion of that small 7%, making the number of literal sports games even smaller. When you factor out these subgenres, are you left with things like Madden, NBA, and FIFA the only things left?
Not quite...
What Exactly are “Sports” Games?
Does this count as a sport?
Sports Games also appears to hold a very loose definition, allowing a wide variety of games into its section that people probably wouldn’t consider “sports” in the strictest sense. Scrolling through the newest releases brings up titles like Dolphin Up, Duck Life: Space, Glider Island, and, I wish this was a joke, Running Sausage. This further complicates things, and makes one wonder whether or not some of these games are being improperly tagged.
Sports Games Culture May Just be Better Suited for Consoles
Consoles are more convenient for hanging out than PCs, at least physically.
The honest fact is that the way consoles function might just make them better for the kind of people sports games attract. Multiplayer is a large part of it, and, while you can certainly connect with people through the internet to play online, the split screen and co-op gaming consoles offer are better for people who like to hangout in person. The PC Master Race may have hardware options and the freedom to customize their machine, but combined with a couch, consoles still offer a great option for groups that just want to chill and play some Madden together.
Saying the Sports game genre is dead is without a doubt an overly dramatic statement, but Steam does tend to speak for the voice of the PC Gaming Community. Whether or not the legitimate sports genre and the PC Gaming Community will continue to distance themselves from each other is a question only time will answer.
Source Pages:
Best Selling Sports Games of Steam
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