Chris Littmann: So what kind of complications does that create when you’ve got a league that’s almost synonymous with the sport in the way people say Coke instead of soda or Kleenex instead of tissue?
Peter Moore: For years, Konami challenged us with Pro Evo Soccer, with no licenses in some countries and a mix of generic and semi-licensed product and did it on gameplay. We’ve come back hard and started to dominate soccer. I don’t see any reason why we can’t build a challenger to the UFC license game. I recently attended a Strike Force card in San Jose — 14,000 people, Showtime covering it live. UFC is an important part of the overall MMA scene, but there’s room for a company like ourselves to come in and grow the overall pie. THQ probably would relish some competition because it would put even more spotlight on the sport.
HT: MMAPayout.
over 2 years ago
Eugene Schelfaut
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The engine they’re developing now will be handy when THQ dies, and EA takes over the UFC games.
Keep firing Assholes!
Out out, you demons of stupidity!
It may happen but I dont want it to. I like what THQ has done and I want both a UFC game and a EA MMA Strikeforce/Affliction/Dream game. If EA gets the license that might mean they abondon the other game. Id rather have both to enjoy ALL the fighters. :(
Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, growing up as a child Kimbo Slice was never given any bread with his meals. This is why he insists people give him his bread."
by xFenixKnightx on Jun 6, 2009 12:44 PM EDT up reply actions
If a license wasn't so important
Why did they go exclusive with the NFL license, kill 2K Sports in the process and depriving us of a great game in NFL 2k? For ruthlessly destroying the competition like they did, I want to see them fail spectacularly.
In sports video games (and video games in general), licenses always trump game play. Bad movie tie-in games sells by the millions. Great, highly-rated video games fail to break 100k. There are no Madden competitors (why is that?) and no non-WWE pro wrestling games. There has been a non-MLB, NBA, or NFL games that sell well (Blitz the League any one?). This is a fact that Robert Joyner, a non-gamer probably has never grasped.
Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, growing up as a child Kimbo Slice was never given any bread with his meals. This is why he insists people give him his bread."
by xFenixKnightx on Jun 6, 2009 12:57 PM EDT up reply actions
I just checked at VGChartz, TNA sold around a couple hundred copies whereas WWE Smackdown sold around 4-5 million copies.
I think EA has a chance if they’re going with the Strikeforce+Dream+Sengoku licenses. I like Strikeforce, but they have a long ways to go before they’re relevant. First, they need to have their champions defend their belts more often. It’s not good to have your current champions do bad B-movies or not defend for two years. Third, less catch-weight fights, and more relevant fights that matter in each respective weight classes.
I just checked at VGChartz
Fail
Mike Goldberg: "You know Joe, growing up as a child Kimbo Slice was never given any bread with his meals. This is why he insists people give him his bread."
by xFenixKnightx on Jun 6, 2009 3:10 PM EDT up reply actions
Are you saying the WWE sales didn’t dwarf the TNA sales by many magnitudes?
by Derek Suboticki on Jun 6, 2009 4:45 PM EDT up reply actions
No...
TNA is not owned by Vince.
Contributing Editor - BloodyElbow.com - SBNation's mixed martial arts headquarters.
http://CurseOfRonKarkovice.blogspot.com/
by Brent Brookhouse on Jun 6, 2009 2:11 PM EDT up reply actions
This is awesome. There are so many good non-UFC fighters I would love to play as
Now if we can just get a WEC game we will be set
.
EA’s game has quite the tradition to live up to.
by Derek Suboticki on Jun 6, 2009 4:37 PM EDT up reply actions
i dont think this mma the game will do well at all.. i might rent it but im not gonna go right out and buy it like i did the ufc game. might be fun to play but i think it will bomb when it comes to sales. anyone know how many games ufc undisputed has sold? kinda curious
Some Important Notes
CL: Have you guys taken a look at the THQ game to try and get a sense of what you can improve upon and get a leg up on the competition?
PM: This is the latest in a number of UFC games. Our team that has been assembled that is working on this is made up of MMA fans. They get the sport, they’re inside the culture, a number of them on the team train for it. We’ve also worked retroactively on the game. And yes, of course when the game shipped from THQ, we got the game, tore it apart to find what it should be and finding where we can make a difference. It won’t work shipping our own version of Undisputed.
Yeah, that’s going to be the key. Even then, this is going to be sort of a niche product for hardcore fans (of both video games and MMA), in all likelihood. The correct point of comparison isn’t the TNA game, but the “legends” games for MMA and football. If I have reason to think it’s a better game than Undisputed 2010 (or 2011, depending on how development goes), I’d pick it because I’m less interested in playing as particular fighters than I am in a strong overall game. But I don’t think I’m typical in that regard.
A robust create-a-fighter system or RPG elements would go a long way. I was crushed to learn there were no entrances for Undisputed—really wanted to be able to come out to music I had ripped. Maybe go the Homer Simpson route and come out to “Why Can’t We Be Friends.”
by An Old Friend on Jun 6, 2009 4:09 PM EDT up reply actions
Long Term Commitment from EA
CL: The first thing I want to talk about is the announcement of a new franchise, EA Sports MMA. And I wanted to clear something up before I get into questions: THQ’s license with UFC is exclusive through 2011, right?
PM: I don’t know what the terms of their deal are, and we obviously respect that, but there’s a huge opportunity in a fast growing sport. We can bring the EA Sports style we have proven with things like Fight Night; we can focus on quality, investing in physics engines and getting the style and gameplay right. We recognize how important the UFC license, but it’s not a barrier for entering long term. This is a long term commitment
Pro Evo Soccer is THE WRONG COMPARISON.
Everyone and their mother knows what “soccer” is… NOBODY knows what the fuck “MMA” is.
Everybody knows what Football is and still the licensed NFL product overshadows the generic shit. Same for the NBA, NHL, etc…
It will be 10 times worse here because nobody knows what “MMA” is.
You've already said this in another thread....
Almost word for word….. the game will sell, not like UFC Undisputed will but it will sell. MMA is growing a lot more than you are giving it credit for.
What the fuck is a "robster craw"?
Because the game sucked. No one cares about retired players at all, but the overall set up of that game was absolutely horrible.
What the fuck is a "robster craw"?
Umm… no. NFL 2K was the better NFL game when EA pulled the license from them. The game definitely did not suck.
I agree with you
but All Pro football whatever it was that had John Elway and all the other retired players was a flaming piece of crap and that was the game that you were referring to… the “unlicensed NFL game”.
What the fuck is a "robster craw"?
No I wasn’t referring to that. I was referring to the fact that NFL 2k3 which had a 93 score on Metacritic during its last year of license could have continued without the NFL license the following year. Sega, which owned 2K Games at that time, chose instead to sell 2K games to Take2 and discontinue the game altogether. Without the license, they went from a direct competitor to Madden to disappearing from the market. And this is from the biggest sport in America with the largest built-in audience in America.
EA should take a lesson from their own marketing genius. They believe MMA is somehow immune to the licensing phenomenon. Let’s see if they’re right. They are making the CFL game to compete against the NFL. I don’t see how they can succeed.
A CFL game, are you serious?
I am really hoping that EA has lost the notion that they can put out whatever and feel we as consumers are just going to buy it because its made by EA. Arena Football, rugby, and College baseball hopefully have shown them that. EA has a huge opportunity here and hopefully they don’t blow it. There is a stellar roster of non UFC fighters out there that they can put into this game and if they put a lot of work into game options and mechanics… it could be an awesome game.
I was one of the people that was upset when EA got the exclusive rights to the NFL because I preferred the 2k games over Madden…. that All Pro football game that was put out was just a complete joke and a horrible game. A CFL game though, I can’t speak for them because I’m not Canadian but I don’t even folks up in Canada would give a rats ass about that game.
What the fuck is a "robster craw"?
It wont sell just because you say it will sell…
Focus grouping continues to show NOBODY knows what the hell “MMA” is and means.
Zuffa is conscientiously mentioning the term “MMA” as much as possible because its becoming dangerous (future political and legal ramifications)… and it’s still not working.
Its like somehow people wont let get calling the sport “Ultimate Fighting” or “UFC”. Even the “NFL” – people say “I’m watching football” or “Im watching a baseball game tonight”.
The vast majority says “Im watching UFC tonight” or “Im going to the UFC” or “Im ordering UFC”.
So in conclusion: Selling an “MMA” game is like creating a soccer game and calling it “team Kickball with goalie”… who the fuck is gonna understand what that is?
Trying to descibe the sport as “MMA” without using the term “UFC”, or “Ultimate fighting” to the target demo is like:
- explaining Football as “Helmet wars with ball”
- Baseball as “hit ball with stick and catch”
- Hockey as “Iceskating with puck”
etc…
At best this game will sell about 1/6th the amount undisputed sells. EA knows this – everything they are doing is for the purpose of upcoming negotiations with Zuffa.
I guess time will tell….. its just my personal opinion that if EA puts out a quality game that people will buy it. By the time this game is actually released, MMA could be more of a well known term and be seen as an established sport… not just the UFC. There is always going to be people that just aren’t very educated when it comes to sports and not everything put out by any business entity in this world is going to be loved by everyone.
Guess I give people a lot more credit than you do, but you’re entitled to your opinion… I’m just more optimistic.
What the fuck is a "robster craw"?
I agree time will reveal the fate.
I agree alot can happen in 12 months… the probability of Zuffa consolidating the talent pool even more than it has now is pretty high though. Its almost impossible for Zuffa to get more market share as its pretty locked up. Now Zuffa has to create more “market” to get more “Share”.
Wrong comparison indeed
PES had football stars lookalike, clubs lookalike, everything was done so you felt like you had the real thing, but with few letters off.
Unless you can play with Forrest Grayfin without avoiding legal issues, it will always be a bad comparison.
I just hope they get the mechanic right.
Thats all that will matter...
Its the gameplay and mechanics that will sell the game. If EA does a great job with the overall set up of the game and the mechanics of it exceed what Undisputed had done or at least doing something different…. the game will sell. It won’t matter who is in the game, if the game is fun to play, people will buy it. Hardcore MMA fans will buy it just because they are hardcore MMA fans…. the casual fan will buy it because it will be fun as hell to play. This is a game that probably won’t have booming first week or first month sales numbers, but if the game is worth a damn, people will hear about it and it will sell.
What the fuck is a "robster craw"?
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