XFL Teases Potential XFL Game On Video Games Day

The New XFL partook in yesterday’s National Video Games Day hashtag on Twitter by asking if the public would have interest in a potential XFL video game and what types of modes should be included.

XFL Game Possibilities

The majority of users responded with two suggestions: having 2k Sports develop the game and an immersive Franchise mode. 2K Sports developing would make sense on a number of levels. Their ESPN NFL 2K franchise rivaled EA Sports’ Madden Franchise for much of the early 2000’s in a way the original XFL dreamed it would rival the NFL. In 2005, EA struck a deal for the exclusive rights to the NFL license with both the league and the player’s association, thus ending 2k’s acclaimed NFL franchise. The company released All-Pro Football 2K8 in July 2007, but the game’s removal of a number of features previously seen in ESPN NFL 2K5 were absent, specifically, a multi-year franchise mode, reducing its popularity. 2K also has the WWE 2K series. Developing a franchise out of Vince McMahon’s newest sports league may not be the hardest sell to McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment.

An immersive Franchise mode could be an immediate home run for a potential XFL game. With no teams being announced as of yet for the league’s 2020 inaugural season, allowing players to create the league as they imagine could hook players on the spot. At the very least, the game could start with the original eight franchises seen in the original 2001 XFL Season and have the player either create a ninth franchise or take over one of the eight teams and relocate to a city of the player’s choosing. With customized teams, a completely customizable roster of players would be necessary as well. With the league’s “no criminal record” rule and discouragement of political gestures, it would really interesting to see how these could be added into the game.

Other suggested modes included a “retro-mode” a la Tecmo Bowl, as well as a “2001 Mode” that used the “Xtreme” rules the original XFL used such as the opening scramble and no fair catches. While intriguing, since the league hasn’t yet announced how its rules will differ the NFL’s, the developers would probably best accomplish this by adding the ability to customize different rules ie. turning fair catches on and off, determining the length of the play clock, etc. Adding in the opening scramble or even having the forward motion rule might be over-complicating things.

Asking the Community

The XFL posted a follow-up tweet questioning where players would prefer to play in a potential XFL game.

Most of the replies were in favor of a potential game on consoles. A number of them added they would want a Switch release along with PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. You can find other suggestions on the replies to the tweets above.

Unfortunately, the XFL didn’t follow up with any hints about an actual game in development. The XFL’s Twitter account posted one final question for #VideoGamesDay: what was the first football game you fell in love with? Whether they were taking suggestions or simply having fun with a hashtag will have to remain unanswered for now.

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