It was an especially strong year in terms of quality across the board for sports video games. While there has been a dramatic reduction in the number of league-licensed games over the last decade, the upside to that is quality has to be high for them to survive. Meanwhile independent developers have now shown the ability to provide the more niche-like experiences that have been lacking. Unfortunately a detrimental release schedule that compresses almost all of the year's games into a six week window remains a big concern for the future health of the genre.
Here's a look at the biggest news stories and developments in the world of sports gaming from 2016 that played a role not only this last year but also may impact years ahead.