Can Rugby Esports Become the Sport's Next Growth Area?

The esports industry is worth billions, its audiences are young and global, and every major sport is racing to claim a slice. Rugby, characteristically, is arriving late, and the reasons why reveal a deeper problem the sport has never quite managed to solve.

A Genre that Peaked Too Early

Rugby video games have existed since the 1980s, and for a time the genre delivered, but when EA dropped the series after 2008, smaller studios never adequately filled the gap.

Since then, titles have typically been rushed to market alongside a World Cup only to be criticised for shallow mechanics, limited licensing, and gameplay that failed to capture the sport's complexity.

Where football had FIFA iterating annually with vast investment, rugby received sporadic releases that felt like afterthoughts.

Rugby 25: The Great Hope

When Big Ant Studios announced Rugby 25, expectations were genuinely high, and when it was launched in February 2025 alongside the Six Nations, it arrived as the most comprehensive rugby title ever produced.

It contained over 140 licensed international teams, 150+ club sides across 11 major competitions covering the biggest rugby fixtures today, and for the first time, top women's national teams as playable sides.

On paper, it looked like the game the sport had been waiting decades for, but the reality was oh too familiar.

Rugby 25 landed on Steam to a Mostly Negative rating, with community forums filling with the same complaints that had dogged every predecessor: broken passing mechanics, poor AI, and a gulf between ambition and execution.

The most damning verdict came from those who knew the sport best, arguing that the developers still didn't understand rugby from the inside out.

What Good Looks Like

The contrast with other sports’ titles such as EA Sports FC, NBA 2K, and Madden NFL is stark, as they are whole ecosystems, each sustaining professional esports circuits, and content communities.

Millions of casual players even develop genuine affinity for clubs and leagues through the game before ever watching a match. They function as fan acquisition engines, while rugby has nothing comparable.

What It Would Take

Rugby has the fanbase, Madden proves video games can handle the complexity of the game, but to actually become esports next growth area, there needs to be a solid game, not rushed out for the next tournament created by developers who understand the game. Until a rugby title earns fans’ trust, esports will remain a conversation the sport has with itself.