All big sporting codes have influences that stretch beyond what occurs on the pitch and touch other parts of people’s lives. For rugby league, that influence can count gaming as one of the industries that has been touched by the long shadow it casts.
While it might seem like an unlikely proposition, rugby league has had a not insignificant influence on the world of gaming, especially throughout Australia and New Zealand. While every street goes two ways, it should be said that gaming’s influence on rugby league is more tangential than direct, but rugby league’s influence on gaming is far more straightforward.
There are some obvious connections between gaming and rugby league, with a number of games allowing players to take control of teams and vie for the coveted Provan-Summons trophy. There are less obvious connections as well, such as casino games like the ones found at Stellar Spins real money casino, featuring imagery and iconography from well-known NRL teams and moments.
The Start of the Relationship with Gaming
The start of rugby league’s relationship with the world of gaming started in the 90s and early 00s, when a number of different games were released. The first of which, E.T.’s Rugby League, was released on Amiga in 1992, which, it is fair to say, was not exactly a smash hit. Two other games were released in the 90s that fared much better, and in the early 2000s, the first of the games published by Tru Blu Entertainment was released. The Tru Blu games were well-loved by fans of gaming and NRL, well-loved enough that over the years, they have published 15 or so different NRL titles.
The draw of these games is largely to allow fans of the NRL to control their favourite clubs and players and to put them through their paces and vie for the premiership. These games might never have had the global appeal that some titles like FIFA had, but for the specific Australian and NZ demographic, they were exactly what many wanted.
How Has The Relationship Progressed?
Gaming has changed over the years in a number of ways, with better hardware and more options for players to engage with. While rugby league games were never massively popular, they filled a niche in the specific environment and for the demographic that they were designed for. It’s been a couple of years since a new rugby league game has been released to fan acclaim, but dedicated fans are on the case.
Fans of specific titles have put work into recreating modern teams and players in old engines, and to allow players to continue living out their vicarious fantasies of controlling these teams on the field.
Gaming’s Influence on Rugby League
As we said, most streets travel two ways, but it’s a bit of a short trip in this direction. The strongest way that gaming can be said to have influenced rugby league is through opening clubs’ eyes to the value of digital marketing techniques to try and reach new audiences. In particular, it seems as though some clubs are learning from the growing popularity of esports and are looking to adapt some of the digital marketing techniques that esports leagues use.
