The Game Awards, D.I.C.E., BAFTA, and those old Spike Video Game Awards are the shows that pop into your head when you talk about Game of the Year. Dive into the history of those GOTY winners, and you’ll run out of patience before you spot a sports title: No FIFA, Madden, or NBA 2K in sight.
That’s not always been the case, though, and rare occurrences like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 and Wii Sports have managed to break through the pack in the past. Still, sports titles making their way to GOTY is basically unheard of in the modern “prestige” sense most gamers think of today.
Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2: The Historical Feat
If any sports game ever truly won GOTY, it’s Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2. Electronic Gaming Monthly called it their overall Video GOTY for 2000, and Game Informer later backed that by ranking it among the top games of all time.
These weren’t any small-time publications, but two of the most influential gaming magazines of that era. They didn’t just treat it as an outstanding sports title, but as the best game released that year, and that says something.
On top of that, it also earned a nomination for overall Game of the Year at the D.I.C.E. Awards and crushed the year-end rankings across multiple outlets. Sitting in the high 90s on Metacritic, it’s undoubtedly one of the most respected sports titles of all time – a reason why such an old title received a proper remaster.
So, even though it never took home the single trophy at a modern industry-wide show, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 is the closest thing the sports genre has to a consensus mainstream Game of the Year winner.
Wii Sports: The Party Crasher
Wii Sports isn’t a hardcore sim; it’s a motion‑controlled party game that came bundled with the Wii in most regions. Impressively, it walked away with the Grand Award at the Japan Game Awards and landed a major prize at the Famitsu Awards, topping several strong contenders at its time.
Plenty of publications and year-end lists also placed Wii Sports at or near the top, mainly because it revolutionized the idea of what playing games in the living room meant for families and people who never touched a console before.
If your idea of GOTY is “the game that mattered most that year”, Wii Sports is tough to ignore. Sure, it’s not a traditional sports sim like FIFA or Madden, but it’s hard to argue that it didn’t make the biggest impact.
Racing Titles Have Done Well
Racing games have come much closer to the GOTY prestige than team-sports sims. Popular franchises like Forza and Gran Turismo hold respectable nominations and honors. For instance, Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec took home BAFTA’s Best Console Game award in 2001. Impressive for a racing sim, and a rare occurrence at that.
Titles like Forza Horizon 3, 4, and 5 have also stacked countless nominations and genre GOTY awards from major outlets. But again, those placements were always within the sports/racing genre and not across every genre. Sadly, when the best titles overall are crowned, racing games rarely take center stage.
EA/2K Style Sports-Sims Topping Overall Categories
You’ll notice a trend when looking at the big, cross-industry GOTY awards from The Game Awards, D.I.C.E., BAFTA, and Game Developers’ Choice Awards. Those award juries simply favor cinematic stories, innovative ideas, and daring risks.
Sports games, even when they innovate under the hood with overhauled mechanics, deeper franchise modes, or Ultimate Team evolutions, don’t typically receive as much respect, as these changes usually feel rather incremental to voters who may not have experienced the depths of such titles like sports diehards do.
As a result, while stand-out sim titles like Madden, peak FIFA, or certain NBA 2K entries have been massive commercially and culturally, their recognition usually tops out at “Best Sports Game”, and not the actual “Best Overall Game of the Year” category.
Has a Sports Title Ever Won GOTY?
If your bar is that any respected outlet or publication naming labeling a game the best release of that year, then yes — Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 and Wii Sports are the best historical examples, with Gran Turismo 3: A Spec also cracking a major academy-style GOTY from BAFTA.
On the other hand, if you’re talking about a traditional EA or 2K-style sports sim taking home the massive, industry-wide GOTY trophy at major ceremonies, that still hasn’t happened as of 2025.
If given a certain group of categories, we might see a sports title at the top. However, when it comes to the single, overall Game of the Year award, they’re almost always watching from the sidelines.
