The document discusses three popular sports video game franchises: FIFA, NBA 2K, and UFC. For each game, it provides details on gameplay modes, target audiences, representations of gender and age, and marketing strategies. It notes that FIFA and NBA 2K primarily feature male players and younger athletes on their covers to target male and younger audiences. UFC is unique in including both male and female fighters of various ages, represented by having a male and female fighter on the cover. All three games aim to keep players engaged through competitive modes and the ability to play as past legends. Their target ages range from 3 to 16, depending on violence levels, but they attract slightly older audiences through YouTube gaming culture.

1. Task 6 – Critical Analysis
Tom Brett

2. Video Game Genres
• First Person Shooter
• Third Person Shooter
• RPG
• Sandbox
• MMORPG
• Horror
• Racing
• Sports

3. Sports Games
Sports games are a genre of video game in which the player emulates
activities and sports that are well known around the world such as
Football, Basketball, Golf, and American Football, plus many more.
These games are played by many people across all forms of video
game platforms and can be highly addictive. They have career modes
which resembles the sports in the most accurate ways possible by
sorting out the teams funding, buying and selling players as well as
simulating real life matches which adds a tone of realism to the game.
Sports games are also playable online so people can play with or
against their friends these features mean that the games have more
value to them and people will buy more of them meaning the
company will get more of a profit. Sports games are competitive which
is one of the biggest reasons why the games are so addictive, another
reason why is because it takes less effort to play virtual sports than it
does to play them in real life.

4. FIFA

5. FIFA
‘FIFA’ is not only the extremely large organisation who runs and leads the world of football, but it is also the name of
the best selling football game and potentially best selling sports game of all time. With it being played in most countries
around the world featuring different leagues and international teams from around the world as well meaning that no
one is segregated. The game features multiple different features which have been created to keep players addicted to
the game, one of the games biggest features is a mode called ‘Ultimate Team’ this game mode inhabits over millions of
players where they play against each other using teams they have created. There is not much negative or positive
representation in this game, it was only until recently that FIFA have had female football players in the game this has
been a good move because previously players could only be male as that was the dominant football gender, however
because a lot of audiences wanted something new so the game added in female players which ultimately defeated the
male stereotype. This can also lead to a small negative representation in that the female players are significantly worse
than the male players, which indicates that in real life, females are less adapted to sports than men. Plus there are
more male players in the world of football so the dominant gender are males. However there is a bit of positive and
negative representation with certain players and teams, some teams will be rated very badly so they will gain a bad
reputation from fans of the genre, but sometimes there will be certain players or teams who will be overrated because
they have popularity and value amongst fans in the game and in real life as well. The game is targeted for anyone above
the age of 3 because there are no potential dangers or hazards with it being a sports emulator, especially when the
sport it is emulating is popular and played in most schools. There is a lot of fan culture that surrounds this game as well,
with YouTube channels that have over millions of subscribers just because they create fun to watch content including
playing games such as FIFA, which will make up most of their videos. This means that even though the games target
audience starts at people aged 3, the mode age range reaches from 12-25 as that is the age of the people who watch
the YouTube videos, meaning that they will look at the YouTubers as idols and if they see videos and conferences about
the latest version of the game then there is a high chance they will buy it, even if it has only been a year since the
previous release and not much has changed with the design or physics engine.

6. The PEGI age says 3 because
the game does not contain
any form of explicit content.
Having a low PEGI rating will
also increase sales because it
is allowing a much larger
number of people to buy it.
EA have signed a contract with
Lionel Messi to make him the
best player on the game as well
as having him on every front
cover and in every trailer,
making him the main player
people see in the game. This
also adds to commercial value
because most people know who
Messi is.
The front cover of the box art for
any video game will always have
the publishing and production
companies featured somewhere.
However the main focus for this
front cover is the two players, this
shows an absence of women on
the front cover because the games
main target audience is male so by
having two males on the front
cover it attracts more to the male
audience. However there is a
presence of female players in the
game so it still attracts the games
female audience.
This is a feature that is in the game
and it allows the player to play
with footballers from previous
generations this shows a presence
of different age representations in
the game, however there is an
absence of age representation on
the cover of the game because
both of the players are well known
amongst current football fans as
well as the games target audience.

7. NBA

8. NBA
‘NBA’ is not only the extremely large organisation who runs and leads the world of basketball, but it is also the name of
the best selling basketball game and one of the best selling sports games of all time. With it being extremely popular in
a lot of countries especially the U.S, this is because it is a sport that is well known in America however there is a real life
European league that also features on the game as well so it reaches out to a larger audience. The game features
multiple different features which have been created to keep players addicted to the game, one of the games biggest
features is a mode called ‘MyCareer’ this is the games story mode and allows the player to create a character using 2K’s
expansive set of customization settings, and then play as them in the NBA league and through home situations as well
because the latest installment of the game focuses on the background story as well as the gameplay itself. There is not
much negative or positive representation in this game, the NBA games have never had female players in the game,
however they do have older players from previous generations that you can play as, this has been a good move by 2K
because players can play as any team since the NBA started giving them more knowledge of the sport as well as more
content to play with. This is also good because of the game having players from older generations then older audiences
might play the game as well because they will get the feeling of nostalgia, the games sales and popularity would
increase massively. There is a presence of age difference, however there is an absence of gender difference, in the
game you can only play as males and not females, this is because there are no female teams in the NBA or at least they
are not big enough to be added to the game, plus there is not a demand to have female players in the game either.
There is a bit of positive and negative representation with certain players and teams, some teams will be rated very
badly so they will gain a bad reputation from fans of the genre, but sometimes there will be certain players or teams
who will be overrated because they have popularity and value amongst fans in the game and in real life as well, a lot of
real life opinions can be reflected in game and vice versa. The game is targeted for anyone above the age of 3 because
there are no potential dangers or hazards with it being a sports emulator, the game itself is not as popular as the other
leading sports games however it is still big enough to get some fan culture, with YouTube channels that have over
millions of subscribers just because they create fun to watch content including playing games such as NBA, which will
make up most of their videos. This means that even though the games target audience starts at people aged 3, the
mode age range will be slightly higher because of the age of the YouTubers playing it as well as the presence of age
difference as well.

9. NBA have used the best 3
players from the previous
season as the players to have on
the front cover of the game, this
is done for commercial purposes
as everyone who likes basketball
will know who the players are,
their names are even labeled at
the top of the image.
The PEGI age says 3 (the
image shows a different age
certification) because the
game does not contain any
form of explicit content.
Having a low PEGI rating will
also increase sales because it
is allowing a much larger
number of people to buy it.
The front cover of the box art for
any video game will always have
the publishing and production
companies featured somewhere.
However the main focus for this
front cover is the three players,
this shows an absence of older
players on the front cover because
the games main target audience is
a younger so by having three easily
recognizable players from todays
era on the front cover it attracts
more to the younger audience.
However there is a presence of
older players in the game so it still
attracts the games older audience.

10. UFC

11. UFC
‘UFC’ is the most popular fighting sport in present day with its ever growing popularity due to social media videos and
hype, and EA have made two hit selling sports games out of it. Unlike NBA, UFC is targeted at a wider audience because
UFC is a sport that is known and played around the world and with a lot of countries having a fighter to support, the
fighter may be from that country or could have a winning personality. The games features are well balanced in terms of
popularity, in the single player mode you can create your own fighter and fight against real life and well known fighters
in the game in order to win competitions and titles. There is an online mode as well in which you can play against a
friend or someone that you have never met before and use real life fighters to try and beat each other in the game.
There is not much negative or positive representation in this game, unlike the previous two games, the UFC games have
female fighters in the game, and they have older players from previous generations that you can play as, this has been a
good move by EA because players can play as any team since UFC started, giving them more knowledge of the sport as
well as more content to play with. This is the first out of the three games to feature both male and female plus old and
young controllable players to use, this is because the UFC has got almost the same amount of male fighters as it has
female fighters, and some of the female fighters are the best in the game. The same theory can be applied with the age
difference as well, there are a lot of new and young fighters but there are also a lot of fighters who are getting too old
for the sport, plus the game will have DLC that allows the player to play as legendary fighters such as Bruce Lee. The
game is targeted for anyone above the age of 16 because there is violence and blood in the game as it’s a fighting game
as well as a sports emulator. The game itself is not as popular as the other leading sports games however it is still big
enough to get some fan culture, with YouTube channels that have over millions of subscribers just because they create
fun to watch content including playing games such as UFC, which will make up most of their videos. This means that
even though the games target audience starts at people aged 16, the mode age range will be slightly higher because of
the age of the YouTubers playing it as well as the presence of age difference as well.

12. The PEGI age says 16 because
the game contains forms of
explicit content. Having a
higher PEGI rating will also
increase sales because it
makes the game more
tempting for the customer to
buy it because they will
expect a violent and realistic
game.
EA have used the best 2 fighters
from previous fights as the
people to have on the front
cover of the game, this is done
for commercial purposes as
everyone who likes UFC will
know who the fighters are.
The front cover of the box art for
any video game will always have
the publishing and production
companies featured somewhere.
However the main focus for this
front cover is the two fighters, and
for the first time for a while there
is both a male fighter and a female
fighter on the front cover, EA have
decided to use the best male and
female fighter to use on the front
cover because they will be the
most well known fighters, because
of this the game will get more
sales because most people will
know who the fighters are due to
social media.