There's actually a number of misunderstandings about sports games. Yes online gaming is a feature worth buying new titles for, but the latency issues are obnoxious enough that offline play is much more competitive and preferable. The franchise building and long term saves aren't going to be built online but offline and the biggest disappointment of the online servers is that these games often change their mechanics or engine completely from one year to the next, another misconception in this video, and many people don't go to newer versions every year when communities are often already producing superior mods and rosters than the publishers and developers themselves. People were modding in realistic ads. Pro sports are disgustingly ad driven. This doesn't justify the general online/micro transaction practices that Take Two adopts, but the search for realism in presenting pro sports might actually strike a subject you, the journalist rightfully biased against these exploitative behaviors as they exist in reality. Ads are disgusting and so long as they dominate corporate media and professional sports, belong in the fictional representation of that media in the games. It's ironic, I know, and doesn't harm your general points against predatory monetization but separate from those things immersive ad placement in sports games would actually be a feature.