Today, most sports and a lot traditional games have been recreated in video games in a realistic way. Some video games focus on the actual playing of the sport, while others focus on sports strategy and management. This very popular genre can be as competitive as real sports. But what are these sports that have successfully made their digital transition?
Football Remains Number One in Online Sports
In the virtual world, the sport that has successfully made its digital transition to offer excellent quality video games is football. The proof: FIFA 20 was the second best-selling game of 2019 in the world, behind GTA V. A benchmark in the eyes of the general public, FIFA’s strength remains its community and therefore its online multiplayer modes.
Basketball Has Won Over New Players
Lesser known in Europe than football, the NBA2K franchise (published by 2K Games) is nevertheless one of the benchmarks in terms of sports simulation. Everything is there: game quality, graphics and game mode. In recent years, the game has opened up to a new and more novice audience, by simplifying its level of difficulty.
Motorsports Meet with Great Success
It’s difficult to miss the main franchises: Gran Turismo and Forza Motorsport. These are very successful simulation games, for experts and for novices. For Formula 1 fans, the latest F1 2019 opus remains one of the best in the series. Rally games like Dirt and WRC8, or MXGP 2019 for motocross are also essential. But in this category, Mario Kart and in particular the Deluxe version on Nintendo Switch is a benchmark in terms of handling and competitions, since it has become one of the most played games in esports.
Tennis World Tour 2: A New Version Released In 2020
Tennis and video game fans are happy: the return of the Tennis World Tour 2 simulation is already available. The little yellow ball marks its return to the video game landscape in recent years after a long crossing of the desert. If the new version released at the end of 2020 is convincing, many other sports cannot say the same and do not have any simulation worthy of the name. And in terms of classic tennis games who can forget the incredible Virtua Tennis for arcade and Dreamcast.
Other Successful Sports Games
We could wax lyrical about all the incredible sports games over the years, but some others that spring to mind include California Games, Track & Field, SSX, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, Golden Tee, Madden NFL and although it’s a futuristic sport I have to include Speedball in there too.
The Success of Online Card Games
On the other hand, the market for online card games and traditional games remains booming and has attracted millions of players around the world. This is because they constitute an intellectual challenge or an opportunity for strategic thinking. Unlike most other entertainment, many card games allow for solo play and come in a variety of difficulty levels. Perhaps the most famous of these achievements is the game of Solitaire, which owes its fame to the Windows operating system, which is found on most computers and which today still provides a Solitaire already installed. From the beginning of the 90s, this easily accessible entertainment was a huge success. Microsoft subsequently added other games to Windows, such as Freecell and Spider. The success of baccarat is also well established. It’s now an integral part of casino games, like at Jazzy Spins which you can access online: click here. As early as the 1950s, these casino games were a real hit with gambling enthusiasts. In the 2000s, online casino games made their appearance, and online baccarat will likely soon flourish across the world.
Chess
And finally, Chess has always been a game that has been associated with computers. Since the early days of computers, programmers have been trying to not only recreate chess in the digital world but also create AI programmes that will beat humans. In 1996 Gary Kasparov famously defeated the Deep Blue super computer, but the machine won the rematch in 1997. Since then Chess programs have superseded humans and nearly every competitive chess Grandmaster uses chess engines like Stockfish or Komodo to enhance their learning. Chess video games have grown too, since the early chess games on 8-bit systems, through the very cool Battle Chess on the 16-bit computers through to games like Chessmaster across all platforms. But because chess professionals use digital versions of chess to enhance their real life gaming skills you could perhaps say that Chess has achieved the greatest transition into the digital world.