Ultimate Sports Gaming Showdown Winner Crowned!

Sports gamers took to the polls in April for IGN's Ultimate Sports Gaming Showdown Contest (presented by the U.S. Army) and after 624,620 votes, Mario Kart 8 has been crowned as the #1 sports game title from a competitive field of 32! When Nintendo’s powerhouse racer was released in 2014, it was lauded for its twisting U-turns, blistering sense of speed, and thrilling antigravity transformations — not to mention its robust tournament and online features. A total package that led to Mario Kart 8 not just winning our tournament, but lapping the competition.

In Round 1, Mario Kart 8 was up against the Wii’s innovative, launch-day phenom, Wii Sports, which lured casual gamers with its wand-waving tennis, bowling, golf and more. Mario Kart won by 68% of the vote to advance to the next round.

In the Sweet 16, Mario Kart 8 faced off against Rocket League, the wonderfully absurd, hyper-powered, cars meet-soccer competition. And while over five billion Rocket League matches have been played online, Mario Kart 8 made a statement by getting 77% of the vote (at the time, the highest margin of victory of any of the matchups).

In the Elite 8, Mark Kart 8 took on Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2, Neversoft’s wildly addictive skateboarder that topped the original by allowing users to create their own skater (not to mention the skate-park creator). But Tony Hawk was no match for Mario Kart 8, which cruised into the Final 4 with a no-doubt victory, winning 73% of the vote.

In the Final 4, it was racer-vs.-racer as Mario Kart 8 took on Forza Horizon 5, an adrenaline junky’s dream set in Mexico and wowed gamers by opening with cars being dropped out of an airplane!!! But it was no match for Nintendo’s juggernaut as Mario Kart drove away the winner, earning 65% of the vote.

In the Championship, it was Mario-against-Mario, as Mario Kart 8 took on Mario Golf World Tour, an accessible, joy-making golfer that sent players to the links with loads of power-ups to get you close to the pin. But in the end, Mario Kart dismantled its brethren, winning it all by a stunning 94.9% of the fan vote, making them not only a decisive winner, but clearly the Best Sports Video Game of All-Time.

Congratulations to Mario Kart 8 which amassed 79,159 votes across the competition, and 16,216 votes in the final round to decide the champion.

And further congratulations go out to the winner of our Bracket Building Contest! They’ll take home a prize package valued at over $2,000, which includes an Xbox Series X, a PS5, 32 sports genre game titles and a one-of-a-kind IGN champion’s jersey!

And finally, congrats to the contest’s 10 runners-up, who will each receive a $100 gift card to the digital video game store of their choice.