Box Score: Two DLC packages provide stark contrast and perhaps a glimpse into the future

Box Score is a weekly column that offers a look at sports games and the athletic side of the industry from the perspective of veteran reviewer and sports fan Richard Grisham.

One moment, I’m clinging to life in the boxing ring. Thanks to a nefarious promoter, the only chance I have to win this fight is to overcome tremendous odds and knock out a better, stronger opponent. My family, my trainer, and my lady are all rooting desperately for me to find a way to succeed despite the fact my foe has knocked me flat. A few minutes later, I’m in Times Square as Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, playing two-on-two against Larry Bird and Kevin McHale. The crowd is on top of us, beats are pumping in the background, and I’m trying to launch Kareem’s patented skyhook over McHale with little success.

You may not have noticed it – chances are you’re buried under the avalanche of fall blockbusters – but a subtle change to the way sports games are being delivered took place this fall. It could be a harbinger of things to come, or just a pebble on the highway of full-priced licensed sports content. Either way, it’s allowed me to experience something great that I would have otherwise completely missed, while making me question the whole notion of what downloadable content is and should be.

EA’s stellar boxing title Fight Night Champion was released in March of this year, sporting a new “story” mode along with the expected online and single-player features. To be frank, as a veteran of the series I was suffering a bit of franchise fatigue and skipped it altogether. Eight months later, some enterprising minds at EA Sports decided to make parts of the game available on PSN as stand-alone DLC (sadly, it’s only available as a full $30 download on XBLA). I bought the game’s Champion mode, a nifty story-with-tons-of-boxing-matches that I’ve enjoyed immensely. Between the narrative (admittedly cheesy, but show me a boxing movie not named Raging Bull that isn’t) and excellent variety of the individual fights, it’s re-invigorated my love of the series and been well worth the $5 price tag.

A few weeks later, 2K Sports released a $10 downloadable add-on to NBA 2K12 called Legends Showcase. Sporting an entirely new art style, roster of players, and game modes from the retail disc, the Showcase puts you in a comic book-inspired midtown Manhattan setting. Whether you’re climbing the ladder in head-to-head matchups, playing H-O-R-S-E against a Hall of Famer, or kicking around with the handful of other available options, there’s no direct connection to the standard modes found in NBA 2K12. Other than the complex controls, the Showcase feels wholly separate. Yet it’s unplayable without owning the full game.

I’m sure there are plenty of valid reasons for 2K’s decision to tie the Legends Showcase to NBA 2K12 proper, but as a consumer it feels forced and unnecessary. To be fair, the Showcase launched a scant two months after the parent game, which itself was suffering in an environment poisoned by a crippling league lockout. Fight Night’s decision to allow standalone downloads of small parts of the game happened more than eight months after its release, well into a timeframe where awareness of the game in any form would be at its nadir.

Even so, when I wrapped Fight Night’s story mode, I wanted more. Not more Fight Night (sorry, EA), but more stand-alone small parts of full games. How great would it be to be able to drop $5 to buy all five BCS Bowl matchups right now, playable on the NCAA Football 11 engine? What about getting all 68 teams in the 2012 NCAA Basketball tournament for $8 next spring on the old (and amazing) NCAA College Hoops platform? I wouldn’t mind spending a five spot to check out the latest version of MLB 12’s Road To The Show, that’s for sure, and if 2K offered me the chance to play the final round of the men’s and women’s Wimbledon, U.S., French, and Australian Open on Top Spin’s engine for the price of lunch, I’d do that in a minute.

The digital download future opens up limitless opportunities for sports game content delivery. As consumers grapple with choosing between $60 games, they inevitably are forced to miss out on too many great experiences. At the same time, developers and publishers invest millions of dollars paying for official licenses and developing games. The Fight Night model may be the best way to expand audiences, build awareness, and generate additional revenue without tying players to a full-price decision they may ultimately regret. Here’s hoping it happens more often.

Richard Grisham has been obesessed with sports and video games since childhood, when he'd routinely create and track MicroLeague Baseball seasons on paper. He currently lives in New Jersey with his wife and four-year old son, who he'll soon be training to be an NFL placekicker. As a freelance journalist and writer, his work has appeared in GamesRadar, NGamer, and 1UP.

Latest in Games
Pillars of Eternity
10 years later, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 and Avowed world, Obsidian is giving its own throwback CRPG Pillars of Eternity a turn-based combat mode
Destiny 2 Lightfall
When Destiny 2 "weekly active users dropped lower and faster than we'd seen since 2018," Bungie assembled an A-Team to put out some fires: "We needed to do something"
Astro Bot
Astro Bot went through 23 pitch iterations before its director promised PlayStation "happy gameplay" and "overflowing charm," though it did once end with robot decapitation that made "some people really upset"
Tomb Raider
5 years after Avengers, 2 years after its last layoffs, and who knows how long before Perfect Dark and Tomb Raider return, Crystal Dynamics announces another round of layoffs
AI Limit
"AI is not as effective as it might appear": Dev of AI-focused Soulslike RPG says they didn't use any AI-generated content and it can't match "genuine creativity"
The First Berserker: Khazan protagonist
The First Berserker: Khazan isn't even out yet, but the new Soulslike RPG already has over 1,300 94% positive reviews on Steam from early buyers
Latest in Features
Naoe kills a target with a black and white filter over the camera highlighting the red of blood spray in Assassin's Creed Shadows, with an On The Radar orange frame
Assassin's Creed Shadows "has a little bit of Tarantino flavor", but its real secret ingredient is intrigue: "It's almost like you're watching an episode of Shogun"
Helldivers 2 Borderline Justice Warbond helldiver using hoverpack to shoot down with hunting rifle
Talking points from the Game Developers Conference 2025 and how they could impact the future of gaming
Flexispot E7 Plus with plant, monitor, soundbar, and controller on top next to white wall lighting.
Gaming desks vs regular desks: which surface should you buy?
Google Pixel 9a smartphones on a beige background
One Google Pixel 9a feature could make it a better gaming phone than most budget mainstream models
Yasuke and Naoe ready to fight on the Assassin's Creed Shadows On The Radar thumbnail
On The Radar: Assassin's Creed Shadows coverage hub
Captain Planet #1
Captain Planet is back after 33 years with a "sexy" makeover and a message that's as important as ever: "Reality has gotten a lot less subtle"