The biggest sports video game franchises on the planet all have one aspect in common: they’ll put a dent in your wallet. While some games can be played through Xbox Game Pass, you’re still paying a large chunk of money per month for the right to play them. Then, games not available on Game Pass will usually cost a whopping $70 at checkout, and that’s just for the Standard Edition.
This massive cost of entry for most major sports games has led a larger crowd of players towards free-to-play (F2P) games. While free sports games aren’t nearly as plentiful as in other genres, there are still some notable franchises that allow you to sink hundreds of hours into them at no cost whatsoever.
Of course, the looming question about free-to-play sports games is whether they are actually worth the time investment.
The Pros Of Free-To-Play Sports Games
If you want to dive into the world of free-to-play sports games, then you need to know some of the best franchises and the benefits they offer compared to the traditional $70 AAA games.
Obviously, the number one benefit to playing a F2P game is that you can download and start playing it for zero money up front. One of the best free-to-play sports games on the market is Rocket League, and on all major platforms, you can download it directly from your system’s marketplace, run through a tutorial, and play your first matches within 30 minutes. Everything you need to have a good experience in Rocket League is also free, as you can progress your account, unlock rewards, and play every game mode without spending a dime.
Most other F2P sports games follow a similar trend, as their goal is to get you hooked on the gameplay and progression. Developers of free games know that, with no entry cost, many players might not feel obliged to give a free game more than a couple of hours of their time before deciding whether it’s good. So, to ensure the maximum number of players stick around, free games often reward players frequently during their first several hours of playtime.
Then it’s all about enjoying the game’s mechanics. Whether it’s car soccer in Rocket League, traditional soccer/football in GOALS, or pulling off skateboarding tricks in skate., you’ll notice that F2P sports games usually feature crisp, rewarding gameplay, similar to what you’d find in Madden, NHL, etc.
The primary difference between F2P games and AAA games in the sports genre is the amount of content on offer. In most cases, free games struggle to stack up against their paid counterparts. For example, the content in NBA 2K Mobile Basketball can’t really compare to that of any standard NBA 2K game. Even if we move away from the mobile scene, a game like eFootball isn’t going to give you as much to do compared to EA FC.
However, when you factor in your cost of entry, which is zero, free-to-play sports games do give you hours of content and often feature addictive, rewarding gameplay.
The Cons Of Free-To-Play Sports Games
Even if you take the amount of content offered in free games as a negative, it’s not even close to the worst aspect about them.
More often than not, F2P games feature a predatory microtransaction system that lures you in with cosmetics, progression elements, and FOMO (fear of missing out). Because you paid zero dollars to actually play, these games need to make money somehow, and microtransactions are how they do it. You’ll usually find in-game shops littered with cosmetics, a paid Battle Pass, or limited-time events that require real-life money to truly participate.
This isn’t always the case with F2P sports games, as some titles, such as Rocket League, are backed by a massive publisher that helps keep the game (mostly) gamer-friendly. However, most free games are supported only by small development teams that rely on microtransactions to keep the game afloat.
Of course, if you truly don’t want to spend money on a game, you never have to in order to play the base game. Cosmetics and even purchases tied to progression are rarely mandatory to enjoy a F2P game in its default form.
On the other hand, some games do require you to pay money to enjoy everything they have to offer. For example, Trackmania offers a free version, but it includes only a fraction of the content of the base game. So, if you download and enjoy the free version, you’ll likely end up paying for the full version at some point because you’ll run out of content to consume.
The Verdict
Now that we’ve gone over some of the major pros and cons of the free-to-play sports game industry, are they really worth your time?
The answer comes down to what you’re looking for out of these types of games. If you’re looking for them to totally match your experience in a triple-A sports game, you’re likely going to be disappointed unless you boot up Rocket League or another major franchise.
However, if you simply want a game to kick back in and relax for a few hours without worrying about getting your full money’s worth, then F2P sports games offer solid experiences. Whether you want a mobile version of your favorite sports franchise or just something off Steam or your console’s marketplace, as long as your expectations aren’t sky-high, you can sink dozens of hours into a free game.
While the looming threat of microtransactions can dampen your experience, the fact that they are never required to enjoy a game means you can completely ignore them. Whether you actually ignore the temptation to purchase a cool-looking skin or player card is up to you, but microtransactions can simply be background noise during your play sessions.