While the number of league-licensed sports video games from big publishers like EA Sports and 2K Sports continues to decline — currently only one sport, soccer, that has competition — there were some encouraging signs of life in 2016 courtesy of independent developers. Several unique arcade-style games or those representing more niche sports have either recently released or are scheduled to do so in early 2017.
None of the games from independent developers in 2016 however were able to place in the voting for the annual Press Row Podcast Sports Game of the Year Award. After 'Rocket League' was able to break through in 2015, and 'Super Mega Baseball' in 2014, the top three games this year were all major traditional sports from the big publishers.