Dot GOTY: Sports Game of the Year 2023

This article is part of Dot Esports’ Game of the Year 2023 series. The Dot Esports team have voted for their favorite games this year across a range of genres, including sports, indie, and fighting games. You can check out the other winners here. 

The annual release cycle for sports games often means more of the same, but 2023 was a year of great change for some of the biggest franchises. So which game made the biggest impression?
A great sports game needs to have licenses for teams and leagues, gameplay replicating what you see in real life, and they should be exciting. Sometimes, they fall short, but when they impress, they can truly knock it out of the park.

The Dot Esports team has cast their votes, and the results are in. Here is Dot’s official Sports Game of the Year 2023.

Dot Sports Game of the Year 2023: EA Sports FC 24

After a successful rebrand of the franchise, EA Sports FC 24 is Dot Esports’ official Sports Game of the Year 2023.

2023 was the year that EA Sports brought an end to its long partnership with world football’s governing body FIFA, a bold move considering that the name was recognized by many as a game title rather than the body in charge of the World Cup.

There were no teething issues with the name change, though, as EA Sports FC 24 has stayed true to the successful formula that has been in place ever since Ultimate Team first made an appearance in the game.

While EA FC 24 is by no means perfect, significant improvements have been made, with the long-overdue inclusion of women in Ultimate Team adding more depth to creating your own squad and revamping the tired Chemistry feature that has long been in place, while Evolutions is a welcome concept.

Away from Ultimate Team, Player Career Mode has had a significant revamp and is now a lot more customizable, particularly with the ability to map out your career path by choosing the clubs you want to join.

The fact is that players want to play with teams and players they know and watch regularly, and EA Sports FC is the only place where you can do that in such great depth. Whether it’s the Premier League or MLS, EA Sports FC 24 has you covered.

Honorable mentions

Though EA Sports FC 24 took the crown as Sports Game of the Year, two other titles made an impression among our writers.

Football Manager 24

Sports Interactive is the master of providing the most in-depth football management experience you can possibly find, and Football Manager 24 takes some big strides with improved ball physics, AI management in the transfer market, and greater squad customization by setting milestones for players to achieve or using intermediaries to offload those you don’t want.

Undoubtedly the biggest improvement, however, is the ability to transfer over saved files from Football Manager 23, enabling you to continue your dynasty.

NBA 2K24

NBA 2K24’s gameplay is the best the series has seen in years. Animations are fluid, player motion is relative to size and attributes, the AI does its job most of the time, and you can almost play good defense—though that’s the area that still needs the most balancing. We can even chalk that one off as being realistic because who’s playing defense in the NBA these days anyway?

Balancing and performance issues at launch soured an otherwise solid experience, but once these were dealt with, NBA 2K24 earned its place among the better sports games of 2023.