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Which Sports are the Biggest Sellers in Gaming?

When most people think about top-selling videogames, they list GTA V, Minecraft, and Tetris. But when you look at gaming stats, sports-themed titles lead the charts. This shouldn’t come as a surprise, though.

People love sports. In some countries, fans worship their favourite sports heroes. They buy their merchandise and play games associated with their favourite leagues.

What’s more, they bet on their favourite sports. They don’t always win. But they like to stay informed about legal sports betting. In other words, sport is like a religion to avid fans.
In the world of gaming, these are the most celebrated sports:

Football (Soccer)

Americans and Aussies call it soccer. The rest of the world calls it football. Its biggest fans think it’s the world’s best sport. Not everyone agrees. But one thing is clear—its fans love these videogames:

• FIFA23
• Rocket League
• Konami’s eFootball
• Football Manager
• Dream League Soccer

The FIFA videogame series has sold 325 million copies since its launch in 1993. Few videogames have sold more copies. FIFA has had a successful run in the last three decades.
But starting next year, EA will no longer create the iconic sports-themed videogame. The company will still release a football-themed game every year called EA Sports FC. However, the official FIFA-branded videogame will come from a different studio.

Only time will tell whether FIFA will continue to be a fan favourite. So far, it's been the most popular soccer videogame in the world. It's an esports game with leagues and tournaments that payout millions of dollars annually.

American Football

American football is America’s favourite sport. It might not be popular around the world. But on home soil, this sport has over 100 million fans. Many of these fans play Madden Football—the sport’s equivalent to FIFA.

Last year, Madden 22 sold over 20 million copies. To be fair, the game featured Tom Brady and Patrick Mahomes on its cover—two of the sport’s biggest athletes. This year, Madden Football honors John Madden—the successful coach the game is named after.

Similar to FIFA, part of the reason Madden is successful has a lot to do with marketing. There are several other American football videogames in the league. But Madden is marketed by the league. Also, it collaborates with the best-performing players every season to push sales.

Wrestling

American football and soccer might be more popular than wrestling. But when it comes to gaming, more people love WWE 2K23 than any other sports-themed videogame out there.
WWE 2K23 stars Dwayne Johnson, John Cena, Dave Bautista, and music artist, Bad Bunny. The game is colourful and easy to play. It's fun, challenging, and realistic. Because WWE 2K23 is an annual game, many of the features in this year's copy have been around for a while.

The fighting dynamics remain the same. Popular fighters have lots of stamina while the underdogs crumble when touched. With that said, the game has improved its payback system. Each wrestler has two unique skills that have a huge impact on how they perform in the ring.

Although its games are famous, 2K Sports isn’t the only publisher that creates wrestling games. If you have a try at a different game, check out these titles:

• WWF No Mercy
• Fire Pro Wrestling World
• WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2006
• WCW vs The World

Boxing/MMA

Considering action is the biggest videogame genre, it's not surprising that boxing and MMA videogames are all the rage in 2023. MMA is still considered a minor sport. But thanks to the UFC’s growth, Mixed Martial Arts is earning millions of new fans every year.

UFC Undisputed 3 is MMA's best videogame of all time. Its graphics are a tad dated by today's standards. But it was realistic, thrilling, and featured a few legends no longer in action.

If you would like to play a more recent MMA game, check out UFC 4. It launched in 2020 to widespread critical acclaim. But over time, the game has been criticized for its poor ground game mechanics.

When it comes to boxing, there are loads of games to play. Below are some of them:

• Fight Night Round 4
• Punch-Out!
• Creed: Rise to Glory
• Knockout Kings 2001

Basketball

Basketball ranks amongst the most popular sports in the world. In fact, only soccer is more popular globally. As a result, the sport is a darling for millions of gamers.

NBA 2K23 is arguably the most popular video game presently. But in the usual style, 2K releases a new version of the game every year. Despite that, this game has a huge eSports fan base on Twitch, YouTube, and Facebook.

The explanation is that the NBA does an amazing job of popularizing its eSports department. Not only does the league sponsor eSports tournaments, but it also markets gaming in colleges and high schools.

Although the 2K NBA series is really fun, consider playing other basketball games too. NBA Jam, NBA Live 2003, and NBA Street Volume 2 are worth trying out.

Cricket

Some people are surprised by the fact that cricket is a globally famous sport. It's India's favourite sport and the country has over 1.3 billion people. Additionally, cricket has millions of fans in Australia, South Africa, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and the UK.

Thanks to its huge fan base, cricket has inspired dozens of videogames over the years: Ashes Cricket, 2017, Big Bash Boom 2018, and Cricket 23. Compared to football, cricket doesn't have one game that reigns supreme.

Instead, different videogames compete for the sport’s huge competition. Sometimes the Ashes Cricket game dominates the market share. Sometimes fans want to play the Cricket series from Big Ant Studios.

Additional Sports

There you have it—some of the bestselling sports in the world of gaming. The list isn't comprehensive by any means. Golf, tennis, hockey, and baseball all have millions of gaming fans.

However, soccer trumps them all in popularity. Most publishers target the sport when they want to create a globally successful sport-themed videogame.