20 Best PS4 Sports Games

WWE 2K16 came out on 27 October 2015 in North America. Its MyCareer mode returns from 2K15, and 2K promised it would be significantly expanded. On consoles that mode is only on PS4 and Xbox One, so PS3 owners got a smaller game. A live-action trailer called "Bonfire" starred Austin, Sting and Seth Rollins. It was the last WWE game released during the Reality Era.

If you want to build your own wrestler and take them from the bottom of the card to the top, start here. It is the newer of the two WWE games on this list, and the one with the bigger career mode.

NHL 16 came out on 15 September 2015 in North America, on PS4 and Xbox One. PS3 and Xbox 360 got a separate release called NHL: Legacy Edition on the same day. Critics declared it an improvement over NHL 15, and they liked the fun gameplay across its wide variety of modes. The big news for online players was the return of the EASHL mode.

There was no cover vote this year. Patrick Kane and Jonathan Toews of the Chicago Blackhawks got the cover after winning the 2015 Stanley Cup Finals. Of the two NHL games on this list, this is the one critics liked more.

WWE 2K15 reached PS4 on 18 November 2014 in North America, a few weeks after the PS3 version. It was the first game in the series for the new generation, and 2K changed the feel on purpose. Matches are slower and more natural, closer to what you see on WWE television. A new stamina system wears your wrestler down: early in a match they are full of energy and hit moves easily.

Matches open with a chain grapple mini-game. If the attacker wins it, they perform a move. If the defender wins, they gain the upper hand. It only happens two or three times a match, and you can switch it off in the options.

OlliOlli2: Welcome to Olliwood is a skateboarding game from Roll7, released on PS4 and Vita on 3 March 2015 in North America. It was free for PlayStation Plus members, and over 1 million people had downloaded it by 27 March 2015. Reviews were favourable on all platforms.

Like the first OlliOlli, which also came to PS4, it is a 2D game with very few controls: the X button, the shoulder buttons and the left stick. A perfect landing gets you full points, and a sloppy one only a fraction. There are no checkpoints, so one fall sends you back to the start of the level. Both games were later sold together on a PS4 disc as OlliOlli: Epic Combo Edition.

The Golf Club comes from HB Studios, a team that mostly did contract work on yearly sports games, often for Electronic Arts. They expected to get the contract for the 2015 PGA Tour game. When EA cancelled the series, they made their own golf game instead. It became the first game in what is now the PGA Tour 2K series.

The course editor is the best part. HB Studios even partnered with Greg Norman Golf Course Design, which used the editor to show renders of courses to its clients. The online servers shut down on 28 February 2025, so what is left today is the offline game.

NBA 2K17 came out on 20 September 2016 to universal acclaim. Critics praised the presentation, the soundtrack, the gameplay and the amount of content. The soundtrack has 50 licensed songs curated by Michael B. Jordan, who also appears in the story. That story was written and directed by Creed scriptwriter Aaron Covington, and Hannibal Buress shows up too.

Besides the current NBA teams, there are classic NBA teams and EuroLeague teams. In the card mode you collect cards that unlock players and playbooks for your team. If you want the 2K game with the best reviews on this list, this is it.

Riders Republic is Ubisoft Annecy's open world for four main extreme sports: mountain biking, skiing, snowboarding and wingsuit flying. It came out on 28 October 2021 after two delays, first from February and then from September of that year. The map joins seven places in the Western United States into one, including Yosemite Valley and Zion.

Ubisoft called it a "massively multiplayer sports game", with up to 64 players in its Mass Races. On PS4 that drops to about 20 players, which is worth knowing before you buy. There is also a 6v6 mode called Tricks Battle Arena, where each team scores by landing as many tricks as possible. Reviews were generally positive.

MLB 14: The Show was the ninth game in the series and the first on PS4. San Diego Studio made it, and the PS4 version became the fastest-selling entry in the series within its first week. Miguel Cabrera of the Detroit Tigers is on the cover, and Canada got its own cover with Brett Lawrie of the Toronto Blue Jays. Matt Vasgersian, Eric Karros and Steve Lyons call the games.

GameSpot gave it an 8/10 and said the presentation remains stellar. IGN gave it an 8.1/10 and called it a stellar baseball simulation with plenty of quality modes, though with few exciting new features. It was nominated for Sports Game of the Year.

Cristiano Ronaldo, then at Real Madrid, is on the cover of FIFA 18. Critics praised the gameplay changes, including Real Player Motion Technology and the overhaul of dribbling and crossing. Reviews were positive.

The story mode comes back for a second chapter. It opens with a TV-style "previously on" recap of the first journey, then picks up with Alex Hunter and his friend Danny Williams on their last day of holiday in Brazil. Later in the season, Real Madrid want to sign him. FIFA 18 also improved on the way FIFA 17 played, so if you liked the first chapter, this is the better game on the pitch.

NHL 15 was the 24th game in the series and the first on PS4, released on 9 September 2014 in North America. The PS3 version was based on NHL 14, so the PS4 game is the real new one. On PS4 the licensed songs only play inside the arenas, and the NHL on NBC theme plays over the intros and intermissions. The menus get an original orchestral rock score by Sonic Fuel.

NHL 16 improved on it, but players recommend NHL 15 more often. If you only want one hockey game from this list, start with this one.

Steep was the first original game from Ubisoft Annecy, which started work on it in 2013. It came out on 2 December 2016 and gives you a vast open world on the mountains, played in first or third person. Later DLC added rocket-powered wingsuits and BASE jumping, plus new mountains in Alaska, Japan and Korea. The Korean one has the venues of the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.

Reviews were mixed. Critics liked the graphics and the open world, but not the lack of direction or the need to be online. It still found a big audience, with 10 million players by February 2019. Fans who miss SSX and Skate often pick it up to fill the gap.

NBA 2K15 came out in October 2014 and had shipped 7 million units by August 2015. The career mode got more personal this year. Your MyPlayer talks to the team leader before and after games, and 2K recorded their voices for it. A new coach satisfaction system gives you real-time feedback on how you play on the court.

There is one odd gap: on PS4 you cannot view playoff stats or the playoff tree. It was nominated for Sports Game of the Year. It is one of four NBA 2K games on this list, and players recommend it ahead of NBA 2K17.

Sportsfriends is a party game from the Danish indie collective Die Gute Fabrik, paid for on Kickstarter with over US$150,000 from backers. It has four games: Johann Sebastian Joust, Super Pole Riders, BaraBariBall and Hokra.

Joust has no graphics. Each player holds a PlayStation Move controller still while the others try to bump it. Bach's Brandenburg concertos play at a slow tempo, and when the music speeds up, you can move faster without getting knocked out. BaraBariBall is a 2 to 4 player sports game where you knock the ball out of each other's hands, much like in Super Smash Bros. Pole Riders is a pole vaulting game made by Bennett Foddy. It is all local multiplayer, so invite people over.

FIFA 17 was the first FIFA game on the Frostbite engine. It came out in September 2016 with Marco Reus of Borussia Dortmund on the cover. It is also where the Alex Hunter story mode starts, the first journey that FIFA 18 recaps.

New this year were attacking techniques, a physical player overhaul and a rewrite of set pieces. All 20 Premier League managers' likenesses are in the game, and the J1 League appears in a FIFA for the first time. Martin Tyler and Alan Smith are back on commentary. The online servers shut down on 14 February 2023, so today it is an offline game.

FIFA 16 was the first FIFA with female players. It was also the first where fans voted on the cover players, and one of the first three women on a FIFA cover was on it. The game has 78 stadiums, 50 of them real. Fratton Park, Portsmouth's ground, was added to honour Portsmouth fan Simon Humber, the series' creative director, who died of cancer in 2015.

Career Mode got a Training Mode, where you build up players with skill games without putting them on the pitch. It raises their transfer value too. It was nominated for Best Sports/Racing Game at The Game Awards 2015. Plenty of fans name it as the point where they stopped buying FIFA every year.

NBA 2K16 came out on 29 September 2015, and director Spike Lee was heavily involved in its MyCareer mode. The soundtrack was curated by DJ Premier, DJ Mustard and DJ Khaled. It got widespread acclaim. Critics praised the presentation, the gameplay and the large amount of content, and they liked that 2K could still make positive changes after so many yearly games.

Some critics found MyCareer far too restrictive, and some ran into online technical issues. Players single it out for its graphics. Among the four NBA 2K games here, only 2K14 places higher.

FIFA 15 came out on 23 September 2014 in North America with Lionel Messi on the cover. It was the first FIFA fully licensed by the Premier League. Martin Tyler and Alan Smith called the games for the third edition in a row, with Clive Tyldesley and Andy Townsend on international matches. Ultimate Team added loan players, who you sign for a limited time.

Reviews were positive across all platforms. Of the four FIFAs on this list, players recommend this one the most.

NBA 2K14 was a PS4 launch game, out on the console's launch day. LeBron James of the Miami Heat is on the cover, and he also picked the music. It was the first NBA 2K with EuroLeague teams, after 2K signed an exclusive multi-year deal in July 2013. Crew Mode came back too. GamesRadar+ praised the amazingly realistic player models, the My Career mode and the presentation, though it criticized the recycled content.

Shortly after release, it was the best-selling sports game on the new consoles. Of the four NBA 2K games on this list, players recommend this one the most.

Everybody's Golf is the twelfth game in the series, made by Clap Hanz and Japan Studio. It also ended the Hot Shots name in North America, so the series is Everybody's Golf everywhere now. This was the first one with open world elements. You make your own golfer, roam the courses freely and drive a golf cart anywhere around the course.

A Level-5 update added characters from Dark Cloud, Ni no Kuni II and Professor Layton. Online support ended on 30 September 2022. It was nominated for PlayStation Game of the Year at the Golden Joystick Awards. It is the golf game players recommend most on PS4, and plenty of them say they love it.

Rocket League is soccer played with rocket-powered cars. Up to eight players on each team try to hit a ball into the other team's goal. It is the sequel to 2008's Supersonic Acrobatic Rocket-Powered Battle-Cars, and Psyonix spent about two years fixing what critics and fans disliked about the first one. It came out on PS4 and Windows in July 2015.

You get casual and competitive online matches, an offline Season Mode and Mutators that change the rules entirely. Later updates added modes based on ice hockey, gridiron football and basketball. By the start of 2018 it had sold over 10 million copies and had 40 million players. Players recommend it more than any other PS4 sports game, by a huge margin.