Do you know what really gets under my skin? When gamers proclaim that sports gamers are somehow inferior to other gamers. It is absurd to bash sports gamers. Without sports games (and racing games) where would the video game industry be? Well here’s some stats to turn over in your noggin that may help you video game elitists recognize the importance and power of the sports franchise.

Madden, FIFA, Winning Eleven, Need for Speed, NBA Live, and Gran Turismo have sold enough copies to place them inside the top forty for highest grossing game franchises. Since 1988, Madden has sold nearly 75 million copies. No big deal, Right? That just happens to be more than Metal Gear, Mortal Kombat, and the prolific Mega Man franchises combined.

FIFA has sold nearly 65 million copies over the years which puts them in the top ten all-time. Again, no biggie since soccer is the world’s game, right? Here’s the kicker. Winning Eleven is FIFA’s biggest competitor and they come in at number sixteen with 48 million copies shipped.

Only a handful of games have surpassed John Madden Football and those games are classics like Final Fantasy, Need for Speed, Mario, and GTA. These are the games you’d expect to be at the top of the list. However, the fact that the classics now include a handful of successful sports games is of singular importance to the gaming industry. Every year gamers wait in lines at midnight to pick up Madden in the U.S. In Europe, they do the same for FIFA.

Here’s my point. Sports games need to be recognized as cultural gold. When Frank Caliendo does his impression of John Madden from the video game and everyone in the audience understands the joke it says a lot about the success and widespread familiarity of the game. You can argue that having the NFL in on the deal doesn’t hurt, and I’d have to agree, but, with the exception of Mario, I doubt that there is a more recognizable video game than Madden in the U.S. Heck, there’s a show called Madden Nation that features a championship played in Times Square on the Jumbotron.

No one is watching you play Zelda on a Jumbotron.

So you video game elitists, this means you Reverend Snow and Doctor October, must recognize the power of the sports game. Stop treating us like second class citizens because we drive the industry that you love. Eventually, we will rule the world of video games. Deal with it.

Viva la sports gamer!!!