As the world continues to evolve digitally and people look at their phones more as a PDA, it challenges industries to adapt new ways to reach the consumer. Thus we have the huge emergence of mobile and social communication from industries. The same can be said in the sports video game industry. Even though the best-selling video games are sports games, they are still battling for more attention from their players with so many other digital distractions, as well as the sport themselves. In order to grab their attention even more, they adapted to be more social.
Gaming made a big step in the early part of the century when video games gained popularity and online play rose, gaining additional revenue from online features within the games themselves. As a result, mobile and social app creation has soared in order to keep fans connected to the game when away from their console.
EA Sports has made a concerted effort to include mobile and social integration into their games for a couple of years now, and they continue to evolve. Just this year, NHL 13, Madden 13 and FIFA 13 all include a mobile/social app to continue game play and stay connected to features that are on the console game. They are even in the process of developing a next-generation social network for online sports gaming called Sports Pulse.
NHL 13 has a mobile app that allows players to continue their GMConnected mode and Ultimate Team mode to manage their teams and trades on the go. The FIFA 13 mobile app allows users to actually play games, manage their Ultimate Team, and stay connected to the gaming network they call Football Club. Madden 13 has recently gone social with its mobile app called Madden NFL Social. Linking Facebook and iOS, the game allows players to always be connected to Madden. It allows you to play friends, continue game play from the console, and manage your team all while earning virtual currency to use in the game for new players or features.
2k Sports has gone a similar route with their NBA franchise and decided to make NBA 2k13 the most social sports game to date. The My Player mode already allows you to create a player and try to make them a legend amongst the NBA, but now it includes features to improve your player’s social media presence. To go along with that, to improve the player’s appearance and attributes, 2k sports has also adopted virtual currency. 2K Sports is making sure fans never stop thinking about their NBA 2K13 player with the help of two new apps: MyNBA2K and NBA 2K: MyLIFE. These apps are geared towards gaining more virtual currency and fans in the game.
The mobile app, MyNBA2k, allows players to connect to their My Player and play mini games in order to earn more virtual currency. The facebook app called MyLife is a social game that is a cartoon version of the My Player and allows users to gain more virtual currency, fans, and followers (even celebrities and current NBA players) by throwing events at their home. Every fan, player, and virtual currency earned on facebook is synchronized to the My Player mode.
Video games are social, whether playing alone, online, or with friends. Mobile games and apps are becoming increasingly popular so game developers must adapt. As the mobile trend continues, expect to see more social adaptation for sports video games.