The Game Awards 2024 nominees for Best Sports/Racing game this year include F1 24, EA Sports FC 25, NBA 2K25, Top Spin 2K25, and WWE 2K24. Fans will want to tune into the showcase on December 12 to see who the winner is, but what's interesting is how these games come from two publishers. F1 24 is developed by Codemasters and EA Sports FC 25 is developed by EA Vancouver and EA Romania, but both are published by EA Sports. Meanwhile, NBA 2K25 and WWE 2K24 are developed by Visual Concepts. Top Spin 2K25 is developed by Hangar 13, with these three titles all published by 2K.
No matter what, one of EA or 2K's developers are taking the trophy home, and it's a pretty close race. Of them, however, it seems easy enough to narrow it down to WWE 2K24 taking home the gold at The Game Awards 2024.
OpenCritic Reviews
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F1 24
- Top Critic Average: 77
- 59% of critics recommend it
- Player Rating: N/A
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EA Sports FC 25
- Top Critic Average: 76
- 64% of critics recommend it
- Player Rating: N/A
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NBA 2K25
- Top Critic Average: 75
- 56% of critics recommend it
- Player Rating: N/A
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Top Spin 2K25
- Top Critic Average: 75
- 56% of critics recommend it
- Player Rating: N/A
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WWE 2K24
- Top Critic Average: 80
- 85% of critics recommend it
- Player Rating: N/A
Why WWE 2K24 Should Take Home the Game Awards 2024 Championship
When just talking WWE 2K24 reviews, it's easy enough to see how much it clears the other competitors. While it's top critic average is only 3-5 points higher than the other games, more critics recommend it by a wide margin. 85% of critics recommend it, while its closest competition comes in at 64%. As a whole, 20-30% more critics recommend WWE 2K24 over the other titles. But it is worth pointing out how sports games are not generally going to receive the highest scores. Even the absolute best and most innovative game isn't going to break an average higher than 90 nowadays, which is partially due to their mostly annualized and sort of niche role in the industry.
Only so much can change from game to game when they come out every year and when fans and critics have years to look back on. Each game is more than worthy of the nomination, even if the scores differ from other categories, and each game is more than worth playing. That makes these 75-80 Top Critic Averages all the more impressive and, if nothing else, makes WWE 2K24 a clear standout.
Although not enough reason on its own, it's worth mentioning how the WWE 2K titles have consistently gotten better since Visual Concepts took a year off after WWE 2K20. WWE 2K22 put the franchise back on track, WWE 2K23 took that ball and ran with it, and WWE 2K24 knocked it out of the park. That has built a lot of anticipation for WWE 2K25 and its features.
Unfortunately, WWE 2K23 was not nominated at The Game Awards 2023, so this is also a bit of redemption for the franchise. It would be a classic WWE comeback story if WWE 2K24 won this year.
Ultimately, what wins any award in such TGA 2024 categories comes down to one thing: these are the best of the best, but among them, which is the absolute best? WWE 2K24 remains a clear standout. Every game has made improvements and innovations, but not at the same stride as WWE 2K24. As a result, I would not be surprised to see Visual Concepts and 2K Sports take home a new "championship belt."
WWE 2K24
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 80 /100 Critics Rec: 85%
- Released
- March 8, 2024
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Blood, Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Visual Concepts
- Publisher(s)
- 2K
- Engine
- Proprietary Engine
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Local Multiplayer
- Franchise
- WWE 2K
WHERE TO PLAY
- Platform(s)
- PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S
- Genre(s)
- Sports, Fighting
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
