Sports Legends Receive New Life Through Video Games
It can be captivating to observe the career paths of renowned sports stars after retirement, with options ranging from endorsing Viagra, engaging in property ventures, or participating in crypto projects. However, one avenue that is increasingly proving to be a guaranteed success is having your image featured on the cover of a video game.
And death is no barrier to this career, as two popular games this year are chosen by sporting legends who are no longer with us.
LA Lakers basketball star Kobe Bryant, who died in a helicopter crash in 2020, graces the cover of NBA 2K24.
And two of the world’s greatest footballers from past eras – Pele and Johan Cruyff – will be posthumously honored with their likenesses adorning EA Sports’ FC 24.
Alongside them on the cover of the EA game is a galaxy of living stars of the recent past – Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldinho – and of the present – Erling Haaland and Alexia Putellas.
France legend Zidane told AFP in June that many young children now knew him largely from his appearances in EA’s game, formerly known as “FIFA”.
– 8-10-year-old children don’t know me, unless their fathers have told them what I did in my time, the World Cup winner said.
“It’s more through PlayStation, so it’s kind of fun. I’m used to it.”
– Marketing nostalgia –
The ties between video game publishers and sports stars run deep, especially in the United States.
The leading American football video game franchise is named after former NFL coach John Madden, who retired in 1978 as a sports commentator.
Economist Julien Pillot, who specializes in cultural industries, told AFP that supporting bona fide legends was clearly an effective marketing tool.
And the often huge cost of getting their endorsements, he said, “more than offsets” the sales they generate — both the games themselves and the ubiquitous in-game “cards” needed to unlock additional content.
Game companies played with a “cross-generational perspective” and added “a touch of nostalgia,” said Pillot.
It’s a quality that leaders don’t hesitate to emphasize.
“My seven-year-old really knows who Pele is because of his amazing ratings at FC,” David Jackson, vice president of the EA Sports FC brand, told AFP.
He said the game had given fans a chance to feel a little bit of the magic of playing with the stars of previous generations.
And it works both ways, according to some of the stars involved – even those who don’t rate as well as Pele.
– People of a certain generation know me for what I have done on the field, said World Cup winner Robert Pires at the opening of the EA game in Paris.
But the 12-year-old told Pires recently that it was only through the game that he learned who the French star was.
“I asked him, ‘Am I good?'” Pires said. “He told me, ‘You’re good, but you’re slow.’
