10 best sports games to play right now

Being a sports fan doesn’t stop when the final whistle blows or bell rings, it consumes your life in a way that very few things can match. So, if you want the same highs and lows without having to lace up your boots, we’ve put together the best sports games for the football fanatic or petrol head in you.

2025 is stacked with video game releases, and sports games in particular dominate the calendar, few of which are more anticipated than WWE 2K25. While the high-flying kicks will satisfy wrestlemaniacs, there’s an entire barmy army of other options if you’re looking to get out of those spandex.

From titles that drop you right into the middle of the action to more technical sims that let you dictate from the sidelines, every facet is covered. Plus, through the beauty of these things called video games, you can even take your love of sports into fantastical new directions that would be impossible — and downright dangerous — in real life.

So, grab your boots and ankle tape and let’s get stuck into our Ballon d’Or-worthy list of the best sports games to play in 2025.

EA FC 25

EA Sports

• Release date: September 27, 2024
• Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC
• Multiplayer: Yes

Over the years, the EA SPORTS FC (formerly FIFA) series has slowly but surely refined its signature brand of fast flowing football. With FC 25, they’ve stumbled on a winning combination of arcadey fun and gorgeous realism that make it an absolute must-play sports game for fans.

While the addictive Ultimate Team gets most of the headlines, it’s the other modes where this year’s game really shines. Career Mode lets you manage matters on and off the pitch, taking lower league teams from rags to riches with shrewd signings, clever tactics, and a whole lot of last-minute winners.

Meanwhile, Pro Clubs is the best it’s ever been, allowing you and your friends to form your own club and conquer the world. If you want the beautiful game looking its most, well, beautiful, this is the Guardiola standard.

PGA Tour 2K25

2K Games

• Release date: February 21, 2025
• Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
• Multiplayer: Yes

Golf isn’t for everyone, but if, like me, you’ve never found the right stance or mastered your backswing, swapping the club for a controller in PGA Tour 2K25 is just as good as hitting the links yourself. Not only does it lovingly recreate some of the world’s most iconic courses, as mentioned in our review, it also steps up its MyCareer game in a big way.

Beyond just leveling up your character and testing yourself in major events, 2K25 throws in sponsorship deals and rivalries with other competitors that put you in the shiny white shoes of a real golfer like never before.

Whether you’re a novice just looking to relax with a few virtual rounds, or a fellow Brit who only has a couple of days per year where every course in the country isn’t a water hazard, PGA 2K25 suits you down to a tee.

EA Sports

• Release date: July 19, 2024
• Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S
• Multiplayer: Yes

EA’s Madden series has struggled in recent years, but if you’re after your football fix and don’t mind moving away from the glamor of the NFL, consider going back to school with College Football 25. After over a decade away, the franchise was revived in 2024 and picked up exactly where it left off.

Few games in the sports genre know where to draw the line between realism and enjoyment, and CF25 finds the perfect middle ground. The ludicrously big college stadiums are beautifully realized and the atmosphere inside them crackles through the screen, as each touchdown is met with a tremendous roar.

The action itself is all about living out that childhood fantasy, with plenty of creative and powerful plays to deploy, but with enough defensive options that it never feels one-sided.

Sports Interactive

• Release date: November 6, 2024
• Platforms: PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC, Android, iOS
• Multiplayer: Yes

While the EA SPORTS series is unmatched on the pitch, Football Manager remains the team to beat off it. If you’ve ever wondered what it’d really be like to sit in the hot seat at your favorite club, Sports Interactive has the answer — awkward press conferences and all.

FM gives you an almost overwhelming amount of control over the club, from the morale and training plans of each individual player to the oh-so crucial finances to fund big transfers. There are also thousands of licensed clubs to helm from around the globe, all with unique goals and obstacles you need to navigate.

It’s complex, but when it all comes together and you start seeing the results, you genuinely feel like a tactical mastermind watching their grand design play out. Nothing compares to the highs and lows of real-life football, but this certainly comes close.

Rocket League

Psyonix

• Release date: July 7, 2015
• Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch
• Multiplayer: Yes

Football (or soccer) with cars might not sound like a real sport, and that’s because it isn’t. Even so, Rocket League has just as much heart-pounding action and gut-wrenching moments as anything on tarmac or grass.

Its signature blend of rocket-powered cards and hilariously oversized goals were an instant hit almost a decade ago, and the game has aged like Cristiano Ronaldo. What’s most surprising is how the goofy concept actually gives way to a virtual sport that’s packed with depth, as knowing when to jump, flip, and boost takes hours to master.

If you’re bored of massaging egos and managing budgets in the other entries on this list, it’s high time you grabbed the wheel. Just don’t try this at home.

F1 Manager 2024

Frontier Developments

• Release date: July 23, 2024
• Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch
• Multiplayer: No

Formula One is arguably the most complicated sport on the planet, and nothing captures that quite like the F1 Manager series. Swapping the track for the garage, this complex management sim has absolutely everything a petrolhead could want.

You’re placed in charge of an F1 team, tasked with overseeing everything from liveries and engine upgrades to track strategies and driver contracts. It’s not for the faint-hearted either, as it’s easy to make the wrong call and find yourself languishing at the back of the grid.

Of course, if you want to sit in the cockpit yourself, the main F1 games might be better for you. But, if anything, putting in all the legwork then being powerless once the flag waves only ups the tension and payoff when you see your driver popping the champagne.

EA Sports UFC 5

EA Sports

• Release date: October 27, 2023
• Platforms: PS5 and Xbox Series X/S
• Multiplayer: Yes

MMA has exploded in the last decade or so, and EA’s UFC series is comfortably the best way to experience it without risking a bloody nose. In a landscape dominated by annualized releases, UFC 5 proves that a little bit of extra time to cook can go a long way.

It’s every bit as visceral as you’d expect, bringing every punch, kick, and throw to life with crunchy detail, all with a control scheme that’s easy to pick up but difficult to fully learn. There’s no shortage of modes to flex your skills in either, but, as always, the standout is Career Mode, where you go from new kid on the block to battling Khabib and Jon Jones for the biggest titles.

A working knowledge of mixed martial arts is a bonus, but this is one of the few entries on this list that’s equally rewarding for newbies. After all, violence is a language we all understand.

Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2

Activision

• Release date: September 4, 2020
• Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch
• Multiplayer: Yes

In a world full of sports games that take themselves seriously, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 is a refreshing change of pace. The remake of the first two titles in the classic skateboarding series is much more interested in flashy tricks and satisfying combos than gritty realism.

There’s no deep RPG-style systems or grindy Ultimate Team mode forcing you to spend hours (and dollars) to gain an advantage. Instead, THPS gets by on simple but effective arcade levels, an array of tricks that are tough to master, and all-round good vibes.

Oh, and I can’t stress this enough, the soundtrack absolutely slaps.

NBA 2K25

2K Games

• Release date: September 3, 2024
• Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch
• Multiplayer: Yes

No matter which sport you follow, it’s been hard not to look over at the NBA series and not feel a certain degree of envy. The on-court action is so vividly recreated that you can hear every squeak of a sneaker and the way it celebrates basketball history with the MyNBA mode is second to none.

But the crème de la crème is MyCareer, which is leaps and bounds ahead of the career modes found in its rivals. You get to choose everything from your next team to which brand provides your shoes, with a ton of deep skill trees to explore and a dizzying amount of customization.

When you live and breathe a certain sport, be it baseball or football, it’s easy to get tunnel vision and just stay in your lane. But when the grass is this green on the other side, it’s well worth jumping the fence.

WrestleQuest

Mega Cat Studios

• Release date: August 22, 2023
• Platforms: PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS
• Multiplayer: No

Ok, this one is a little out there, but any fans who loves the campy, over-the-top world of WWE and hasn’t at least tried WrestleQuest is missing a trick. Combining the best of wrestling and JRPGs, this pixel punch ’em up slides you into the spandex of Macho Man, a new superstar who didn’t get the memo that matches are scripted (sorry to break it to you).

The short but sweet campaign soon devolves into a wonderfully tale about saving the world of pro-wreslting, and reality itself. How do you do that? By fighting action figures based on former champions, of course.

Meanwhile, the matches are broken down into turn-based scraps, where you need to wow the crowd by mixing up your moves to stop them from getting bored and powering up your enemies. It’s just as silly as it sounds, but it’s a loving ode to classic eras of both wrestling and JRPGs that’ll make you grin from ear to ear.

Now that you’ve got a whole stack of great sports games to hop into, if you’re not cramping up yet, you can also take a look at our lists of the best co-op games of all time and the best RPGs ever. Or, for something more modern, check out the best games of 2025 so far across all genres.