Best Xbox sports games you can play in January 2025

From hitting a hole-in-one at Augusta National to scoring the winner in the Champions League final at Wembley Stadium, here are the best Xbox sports games.

Best Xbox sports games you can play in January 2025
Sean Carey

Sean Carey

Published

Whether you're playing on your own or competing against friends in multiplayer, the best sports games on Xbox are filled with jubilation, frustration, and heart-in-your-mouth moments that will have you coming back for more. With so many great sports titles on Xbox, we've gone through the various different sporting disciplines and listed out the best games from this eclectic genre.

Best sports games on Xbox

The sports genre is one of the most popular genres in gaming, as it encompasses so many different sports, both real and fictional. Whether you're throwing haymakers as Mike Tyson in Fight Night Champion or flying a rocket-powered car into an oversized football, there is a sports game out there for everyone.

Using the combined knowledge and experience of the Trueachievements editorial team, site review scores, and community ratings, we've put together a chunky list of the best Xbox sports games.

Here are the ten of the best sports games on Xbox, ranked:

10. Fight Night Champion

The oldest game on our list by some margin, Fight Night Champion is the king of the ring when it comes to boxing games. Sure, Undisputed is a worthy underdog, but there is just something special about the Fight Night series that the Undisputed team hasn’t quite managed to capture.

Thanks to the power of backward compatibility, Fight Night Champion is still playable today, and it holds up. With its Full-Spectrum Punch Control mechanic that allows you to throw punches with the flick of an analog stick and some awesome facial animations that really highlight the brutal power of a haymaker landing, Fight Night Champion is just so much fun to play — finding that delicate balance between conserving energy and trying to land an absolute slobberknocker on to your opponent never gets old.

One thing to note here, however, is that four achievements are discontinued in the boxing sim, so bear that in mind before jumping in the ring.

9. EA Sports PGA Tour

  • Hit a hole-in-one with the EA Sports PGA Tour achievements
  • Release date: April 7, 2023
  • Developer: EA Orlando
  • On Game Pass? Yes (Game Pass Ultimate via EA Play)
In the world of golf games, there are only two contenders: EA Sports PGA Tour and PGA Tour 2K23. Unfortunately for 2K, EA takes the crown here with its excellent EA Sports PGA Tour.

EA’s golf sim is the only game where you can play through all four major tournaments: the Masters Tournament, the PGA Championship, the U.S. Open Championship, and The Open Championship. Compared to PGA Tour 2K23, the career mode is more fleshed out and interesting, the physics are more realistic, and the swing mechanic offers more variety to pull off different shots. EA Sports PGA Tour is nestled nicely on the green, while PGA Tour 2K23 is trapped in a bunker. However, PGA Tour 2K25 is on the horizon and could challenge EA Sports PGA Tour for its spot on this list.

8. MLB The Show 24

  • Here are the MLB The Show 24 achievements
  • Release date: March 19, 2024
  • Developer:San Diego Studio
  • On Game Pass? Yes (Game Pass Ultimate and Game Pass Standard)
With MLB The Show 24, San Diego Studio has built upon the winning formula it found with previous iterations of the game with a few new features. For the first time, you can play as a female baseball player in Road to the Show, which is a nice touch, dialogue options have also been improved in Road to the Show for more “emergent narratives,” and the developer has overhauled the visuals and animations, making the gameplay feel a bit more natural.

While there isn’t much competition in the baseball sim space, MLB The Show continues to improve year after year, and MLB The Show 24 is absolutely worthy of time, regardless of whether you’re a fan of the sport or not.

7. WWE 2K24

  • Pin the WWE 2K24 achievements for another 1,000G
  • Release date: March 8, 2024
  • Developer: Visual Concepts
  • On Game Pass? No
Since the disastrous WWE 2K20, 2K’s wrestling games have gone from strength to strength. WWE 2K24, while not all that different from 2K23 improves on the game in pretty much all areas. The gameplay has been improved with things like the trading blows mini-game, super finishers, and an improved blood system. You’ve also got a load of new match types to mess around with, an updated career mode, and, of course, an absolutely stacked out roster of wrestlers that all look fantastic, thanks to the game’s excellent visuals.

6. NBA 2K25

  • Here are the NBA 2K25 achievements
  • Release date: September 23, 2022
  • Developer: Bounding Box Software
  • On Game Pass? No
2K continues to dominate the world of basketball sims with its excellent NBA 2K series. Its latest release, NBA 2K25, builds on the series’ winning gameplay formula by introducing new additions such as ProPlay, which uses real-world NBA footage to improve animations. 2K says that 9,000 PRoPlay animations are being used in NBA 2K25 to make the experience feel more authentic. You also have a new built-from-the-ground-up dribble engine that allows for better control over players, as well as improved offensive and defensive gameplay. Putting aside its money-sucking microtransactions for online modes, NBA 2K25 is an exceptional basketball game.

5. Football Manager 24

The Football Manager series is the pinnacle of sports management games, and Football Manager 2024 is one hell of a game for those looking to get stuck into stats and the nitty-gritty of football management.

One big feature developer Sports Interactive introduced with Football Manager 2024 is the ability to transfer your career progress from FM 23 into FM 24. This means that you can still play with that Havant & Waterlooville side you managed to get promoted from the Southern Football League all the way up to the Premier League. Other changes include an improved match engineer for a more immersive and authentic match-day experience and a more competitive transfer market. All of this, on top of the ridiculous amount of stats and choices FM 24 offers, makes it easily one of the best sports games around.

4. EA Sports FC 25

A list of best sports games wouldn’t be complete without FIFA EA Sports FC 25, and while many will consider this ‘just another FIFA,’ there is actually a lot going on here, which easily makes it the best football sim out there.

The latest game in the series features a bunch of new improvements over the last iteration, including a big tactical overhaul, which gives you greater strategic control during a match, and a new AI model powered by real-world data to influence player tactics through new player roles. Also introduced with EA Sports FC 25 is the new fast-paced 5v5 Rush mode, which replaces the street football mode Volta. Rush, with its smaller squads, offers a new way to play the beautiful game, giving you more time with the ball on a smaller pitch. It’s an absolute blast with pals.

3. Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2

Perfect for both newcomers and those old enough to have played the originals when they first launched in the 90s, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 + 2 is an absolutely stellar remake of the two classic arcade skating games we all know and love. Developer Vicarious Visions took what Neversoft created, updated the visuals for each level and skater, and added a bunch of new features, online multiplayer, gameplay tweaks, and modes to bring the games to life for modern consoles. All of this has resulted in what is considered by many to be one of the greatest remakes of all time.

2. EA Sports College Football 25

After 11 years without a new game in the series, EA returned to college football with a bang. EA Sports College Football 25 beats Madden NFL 25 for the title of best American Football game for several reasons. The gameplay in College Football 25 feels both more authentic and realistic. It’s also a more immersive experience, thanks to the ridiculous work EA Orlando has put in to bring an electrifying and often unique atmosphere to over 150 different stadiums.

It’s not to say Madden NFL 25 is a bad game, but EA Sports College Football 25 really goes that step beyond and offers something we haven’t seen in a long time.

1. Rocket League

  • Here are the Rocket League achievements
  • Release date: February 17, 2016
  • Developer: Psyonix, Panic Button
  • On Game Pass? No, but it is free to play
Rocket League is not only one of the best Xbox sports games; it’s also one of the best free-to-play games of all time. While it will need no introduction to many, if you haven’t played Rocket League, it’s a game where essentially you’re playing football with high-powered rocket cars.

In a variety of 2v2, 3v3, and 4v4 game modes, you and your team will compete against others to get a giant ball into the other team’s goal. During a match, you’ll have cars flying all over the place and driving up the walls and on the ceiling of the arena in the hopes of trying to outscore the other team. What’s great about Rocket League is that it’s so easy to pick up and play, even for beginners. Sure, masters of the game can keep their cars up in the air for what feels like an eternity, but you honestly don’t need that much skill to have a great time with this one.

What do you make of our best Xbox sports games list?? Would rank any of these higher? Are there any sports titles that would make our list of the best Xbox games? Let us know your thoughts down in the comments.
Written by Sean Carey
A big fan of Xbox achievements, Sean has committed to playing as many of the best RPGs, racing games, and first-person shooters on and off Xbox Game Pass as possible. Before joining TrueAchievements, Sean earned a degree in journalism from Solent University.
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