Sports games are up there with some of the biggest genres in gaming, especially on consoles such as Playstation and Xbox. With games such as FIFA, Madden and 2K Basketball dominating the genre, it proves just how popular sports games are amongst gamers.
It leads to the question of other sports that may not be in the mainstream as much as football, American Football and basketball. Should they have a game produced for fans worldwide? One of those sports is field hockey.
Although you may get ice hockey games produced by the giants at EA, field hockey is one that does not make the cut, but there is an audience to play a game about field hockey.
Popularity of hockey
The sport has an estimated two billion fans worldwide and is hugely popular when the Olympics or the Commonwealth games come around. However, it does not get much publicity on television other than these two events.
Despite this fact, the sport is gaining traction with people able to watch international games on subscription sports broadcasters such as BT. More people are taking up betting offers in the UK on the sport as popularity rises.
Fans can also experience the sport on EHL TV when the European Hockey League comes around with some of the best teams in Europe competing to win glory.
Would a game help with popularity?
There is a market for the audience, especially with so many fans watching the sport. The sport is physically challenging and technically advanced, which could be tricky for a developer to reproduce in a console format game.
However, a company like EA or 2K or even Codemasters (who produced Brian Lara Cricket) would be able to replicate the motion of striking a ball.
If a game were produced for Playstation 5 or Xbox Series X, you would see more people interested in the sport and potentially wanting to take it up themselves. With 69 thousand players in the UK alone, it would be another good way for these enthusiasts to play one of their favourite sports and tell other people to get involved.
Has anyone tried to make a game before?
Although there have been attempts at a mobile version of hockey, there have not been any solid rumours or leaks from companies wanting to make a field hockey game for a console.
However, there has been an attempt to make a field hockey game on the PC by a company called Urbanwarfare Studios, and they were quite intent on making the hockey game and letting the fans know about their progress. Yet, Peterborough’s small company in the UK has not posted anything active about the project since 2016, and there have been no other YouTube videos about The Field Hockey Game.
It is a real shame that they have been unable to finish the project because it could have been the foundation for a hockey game on a console as we know it. But hockey fans around the world be hoping that one of the bigger companies might be scouring the internet and come across the work they have already done, then inspiring them to carry on their initial work.
