The holiday season is upon us and like every year the newest and best sports games will come out. These games are said to have all these cool new features that will change our gameplay experience. We hear this each year all the time, but is it really worth it? Is it worth it to spend 60 dollars every year on a game that has barely changed?

Buying the newest sports game, like buy anything new, comes with its pros. The first advantage of buying the newest sports game is that the graphics and gameplay go up a little bit. Every new sports game has better graphics than the game before, which is a plus, but the graphics only improve slightly. However, games do add little fun new gimmicks to every new game. This is what attracts people to their game. Nonetheless, these new little modes or changes to modes does not make the core gameplay experience that much different.

The last pro of buying the newest video game and what I think is the most important of them all is the updated rosters. For example, the NBA offseason will probably go down as the craziest offseason in league history. It feels like almost every superstar went to a new team. With most of them forming new dynamic duos that fans could never imagine happening in a million years. This can make a huge difference to your gameplay experience. Nobody wants to play with last year’s rosters for any game. The counter-argument for this that if you have a recent enough version of the game you can just download the newest roster from any league to that game.

The cons are for buying the newest sports game every year are that you are basically spending another 60 dollars for a game you already have minus some minor details. That is really the only con you need. If you are big into a sports game’s franchise then, of course, you are going to buy the newest game that they release. It comes without question. But if you are just a casual player who really only plays the game when your friends are over, then no it is not worth it to buy the newest sports game. It all depends on how much you are into the franchise.

If you want the game just to play with your friends every once in awhile I would recommend to wait and buy a used copy for really cheap. This way you are only spending a max of 15 dollars for a game that is originally 60 dollars. Personally, this is what I would do if there was a game that I would only really play with my friends.