Sport is one of the most popular and profitable genres in the gaming industry. Games such as FIFA, Madden, and NBA 2K achieve great sales figures with every one of their yearly titles, while microtransaction-heavy game modes like Ultimate Team have raked in eye-watering amounts of money. Unfortunately for some, this money is predominantly shared between a small handful of publishers, who essentially have a monopoly on the sporting genre thanks to them owning the necessary licenses to use official player and team names.

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Making competitors to games like FIFA is tricky without official licensing, but that shouldn't mean that developers can't look elsewhere for sporting titles. In fact, there are a handful of niche sports that may not be anywhere near as popular as football or basketball, but with the right development team, could become hit console games nonetheless.

5 Chessboxing

chess boxing match

Yes... that's a real thing.

Chessboxing is exactly what it sounds like; two competitors go head to head in alternating rounds of chess and boxing, with the winner being the player who either checkmates or knocks out their opponent. If neither of these conditions is reached, then the game will be decided by either a boxing decision or chess time-out. The first chessboxing competition took place in Berlin in 2003, and the sport has been growing in popularity ever since, particularly in Russia, India, and the United Kingdom.

There have been numerous successful chess and boxing video games over the years, so combining the two shouldn't be too tricky for developers, and there can be some interesting mechanics based around disorientated players struggling to move the pieces.

4 Gaelic Football

gaelic football tackle

Gaelic football is a team sport that is very popular in Ireland but almost unheard of elsewhere. Teams have two ways of scoring in Gaelic football: they can either kick or punch the ball into a soccer-like goal for three points or between two rugby-like posts for one point.

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Players can carry the ball with their hands and can tackle opponents in a similar but slightly less aggressive way than rugby. Shoulder tackles and hitting the ball out of an opponent's hand are both allowed, but pulling an opponent's top, slide tackling them, or pushing them will result in a foul.

Although the sport has struggled to appeal outside of Ireland, a well-designed video game will always draw attention, so it may be worth a development team taking a punt one day.

3 Cheese Rolling

cheese rolling competition

Cooper's Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake is a sport that takes place once per year on a specific hill in England. The rules are simple; people line up at the top of the hill and race down as fast as possible in an attempt to catch a roll of cheese rolling down the hill. The sport began as a local tradition and is believed to be over 600 years old. Today, the event gets competitors from all over the world, with previous winners of the roll of cheese coming from Nepal, New Zealand, and the United States.

The eagerness from some people to compete is surprising, to say the least, as anyone who has watched Cheese Rolling will soon realize how dangerous it is. The hill is deceivingly steep, causing some brutal falls, and it wasn't until 2013 that the cheese roll was replaced with a foam replica, as, unsurprisingly, a roll of cheese speeding down a bumpy hill is unpredictable and can seriously injure spectators who stand at the sides of the hill.

Cheese Rolling isn't likely to be the next FIFA, but it would make for a fun, online indie game.

2 Paralympic Games

paralympics basketball match

The Paralympic Games is a multi-sport event that, ever since 1988, are held immediately after the Olympic Games. The difference between the Paralympic Games and Olympic Games is that the Para athletes have physical disabilities, such as Hypertonia, impaired muscle power, and limb deficiency.

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Like the Olympic Games, the Paralympic Games have a huge range of different sports, including football 5-a-side, wheelchair rugby, and swimming. Football 5-a-side, in particular, has grown in popularity in recent years - the sport is played by people with visual impairment, with a ball that has a noise-making device.

A video game version of the Paralympic Games will be difficult to get right, as like with the Olympic Games, the developers need to implement a wide range of mechanics to suit the various sports. However, there have been successful and enjoyable Olympic Games titles in the past, so a Paralympic console game may not be too far-fetched.

1 Footgolf

footgolf tee off

Footgolf is exactly what it sounds like. The sport is virtually identical to golf, but with one key detail: players don't hit the ball with a club; they kick it.

Footgolf is a popular choice for parties and casual events, as the kicking element of the game removes the tricky learning curve that comes with traditional golf and the lack of clubs removes a large chunk of the cost. The sport isn't just for casual fun, however, as competitive events are starting to pop up frequently around the world, and the governing body is actively trying to get the sport included in the Olympics.

Golf games have been a mainstay in the sports genre of gaming for multiple decades, so if the demand for one arises, a footgolf game could well arrive one day.

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