If you’re a fan of sports and enjoy sports betting, chances are you also have an interest in sports video games. There are a large variety of these games available on a plethora of devices, and the evolution of technology has seen sports-based video games advance rapidly since the release of the first-ever sports video game in 1958.
We’re exploring the origin and history of these massively popular games, as well as the titles, game developers, and technology that transformed the industry and the way people play.
The origin of video games
The first of its kind was a 2-D electronic game called Tennis for Two, developed by nuclear physicist William Higinbotham and released in 1958. This was a competitive two-player tennis game played on an analog computer with two separate controllers and a 5-inch oscilloscope screen. This action game was different from the puzzle, and space-themed arcade games that were so popular at the time.
Though the game was never meant for commercial use, it gave rise to a new generation of electronic entertainment: sports video games.
The 1970s
In 1972, Ralph Baer developed Table Tennis for the first-ever video game console, the Magnavox Odyssey. This console already featured sports-themed games. However, they required the use of television overlays, and Table Tennis was entirely electronic and did not require an overlay, instead using a ball-and-paddle game design. This new design created the foundation for the first commercially successful video game, Pong, which was released as an arcade video game by Atari.
Pong became massively popular, and numerous ball-and-paddle clones and variants were released soon after, including a four-player multiplayer variant, Pong Doubles. Japanese game developers Taito and Sega were two brands that released a number of popular clones of Pong and continued to evolve the gaming sector. They created a number of arcade games based on soccer, basketball, football, bowling, boxing, and baseball. The first combat game, Heavyweight Champ, was released in 1976 by Sega. Atari managed to release another one of the highest-earning arcade games (second to Pong), Atari Football, in 1978, though the widespread popularity of ball-and-paddle style arcade games died down in the late 1970s.
The 1980s
The 1980s saw a resurgence of sports-themed arcade games, as well as the rise of console games, which really took off in the early ‘80s. Sports video games also became popular on home computers with Microsoft’s Olympic Decathlon, which was one of the first sports-based programs to combine elements of a game and simulation. The main console game developers were Atari, Mattel, and Nintendo, and the introduction of artificial intelligence saw games becoming more realistic in the later years of the 1980s.
In 1980, Basketball, developed by Mattel for the Intellivision, was licensed by the NBA. This marked the beginning of the first console wars, where Mattel was up against Atari. While Atari remained the most popular arcade-style game developer, Mattel boasted superior visuals, and both brands released at least one baseball, basketball, hockey, and football-based game between 1981 and 1983. Olympic-themed games also became increasingly popular, with Konami’s Track & Field, which sold 38,000 arcade units in Japan, becoming one of the top highest-earning arcade games in the US in 1984.This increased the demand for similar games worldwide.
Tehkan World Cup was a soccer-based game released in 1985 that became a landmark title thanks to its revolutionary top-down perspective, which allowed a greater view of the pitch, and its trackball control system and game physics. In 1987, EA (Electronic Arts) released Earl Weaver Baseball, which became known as one of the best baseball games ever made. Home consoles continued to evolve as games started to offer multiple camera angles, digitized voices, and in-game representations of real-world athletes.
The 1990s
3D graphics were introduced to sports games in the 1990s. In 1994, the first football game to use 3D graphics, Virtua Striker, was released by Sega. This was followed by Sierra Online’s Front Page Sports Football in1995, a game designed specifically for PC, which was named the twelfth of the Best 150 Games of All Time by Computer Gaming World – the highest ranking for a sports game.
While FIFA had largely dominated PC games for several years, the game changed when International Superstar Soccer Pro (ISS Pro) released for PlayStation in 1997. It boasted an advanced 3D engine that generated improved graphics and offered more sophisticated simulation gameplay, which emphasized tactics and improvisation.
By 1997, sports games accounted for 50% of console software sales, according to Electronic Gaming Monthly.
In the late ‘90s, extreme sports entered mainstream gaming and were a popular favorite by the 2000s. Skateboarding came into the arena with Top Skater in the arcades and the legendary Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, which was released on console in 1999.
The early 2000s
Sports-based video games continued to grow in popularity with all popular sports, including extreme sports, now available for PC and console gaming. It became big business when EA began making deals that granted them exclusive rights to several distinguished sports organizations, from the NFL to the AFL and ESPN. Gaming devices also saw a surge in technological advancements.
Though the first motion detection game controller was designed in 1993 by Sega, it wasn’t until 2006 that Nintendo released the wildly popular Wii Sports, a game for the Wii console where players could physically mimic sports actions and move their avatar (known as Mii) with a Wiimote. This was a special controller that could track how the controller itself moved, thereby allowing players to interact with games using their entire bodies and not just buttons or sticks on the input device. The game offered boxing, bowling, golf, tennis, and baseball, which could be played individually or with multiple players. Players could track their progress and improve their skill. By 2013, this had become the second best-selling video game of all time. It also paved the way for other physically reactive sports-based video games.
Modern sports video games
There are now a number of sophisticated gaming consoles, including PlayStation, Nintendo, Xbox, and more. Modern consoles have changed the way we play and offer hundreds of sports games featuring incredible graphics, realistic gameplay, highly advanced control and maneuverability, real players, competitions, and leagues.
EA Sports and 2K Sports are the current leaders in the sports genre as they hold licenses to produce games based on official leagues. This has seen the total number of sports titles drop, however, the quality is better than ever. League-based games, racing games, and sports management games are popular genres and offer a variety of team sports, extreme sports, combat sports, and track and field.
With Virtual and Augmented Reality technology quickly advancing, the future of gaming is looking exciting. These video games are also now more available across a number of platforms and devices, including smartphones and casinos. Even online slots offer sports-themed slot games so that players can play casino games while enjoying their favorite sports – with titles like 1st Down, 11 Champions, and Lets Soccer, there are a variety of fun games to dive into.
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With technology advancing, both sports-based games and online casino games are better than ever and offer sports fans a variety of entertainment options from live casino online games and the sports bets that come with them, to video games, slots, and more.
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