Friday Debate – How would you design the perfect rugby video game?

There’s a sense of Euphoria in the air lately, after South Africa’s massive win against England at the finals for the Rugby World Cup. I may not be a fan of the game, but heck even I have to admit that it’s nice to see just how powerful the sport is at uniting people and generating a wave of positivity over the land that for a brief moment in time saw people of all different creeds and backgrounds come together.

Beyond that historic game, Faf De Klerk’s patriotic speedo and the unbridled joy of Jacob Zuma being the only president to never share in the glory of lifting the Web Ellis cup, rugby should be more popular than ever. For those of us who don’t favour being run over by a mountain of fans in a friendly game or can’t be arsed to even spend five minutes playing a quick game of touch rugby, the option to engage in a digital version of that game should be available.

And it is! The latest rugby game on the horizon is Rugby Challenge 4 and while it’ll probably be alright, I’ve got a feeling that it won’t be scoring any higher than that in an industry starved of regular rugby games fostering competition between studios to outdo one another. With every rare reveal of a new rugby game, it seems like some corners need to be cut, some caveats need to be addressed across a wide range of categories.

Love or hate them, but you have to give credit to Electronic Arts in the early 2000s for their take on the sport which included all manner of officially licensed national teams and faces. So let’s say you’ve got the budget. Imagine you’ve got the connections, the influence and the ambition to create the greatest rugby video game of all time. What would your plan be?

Who would you hire? What studio would you task with developing the game? Would you go for a full licensed approach or something generic? If you could use any game engine to its maximum potential, would you grab something like the Frostbite Engine or would you see if you could implement killstreaks in a game of rugby using the latest Modern Warfare software? Would you keep me as far away as possible when I suggest an S-Rank combo system from Platinum Games?

Heck, would you even consider a live service style game, or something that goes back to basics? There are so so many questions to answer, but only you the regby fan can do so. So sound off below, brainstorm with everyone else on what the perfect rugby video game would be.

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of Critical Hit as an organisation.

Last Updated: November 8, 2019