UFC doing a MMA game with EA

[PITTFOX]

AGOURA HILLS, Calif. & LAS VEGAS, Nev., June 4, 2012 – THQ Inc. (NASDAQ: THQI) and Zuffa, LLC, today announced that they have reached an agreement to transfer THQ’s exclusive, worldwide license with Zuffa to publish videogames based on the Ultimate Fighting Championship® (UFC®) brand to Electronic Arts Inc. (NASDAQ: EA), effective today, in exchange for an undisclosed cash payment to THQ.

“Over the last three years, THQ has delivered best-in-class, all-encompassing experiences to MMA fans, sports enthusiasts and fighting gamers around the globe with its UFC Undisputed™ series. We want to thank them for their stewardship of our brand," said Lorenzo Fertitta, Chairman and CEO of Zuffa. “We look forward to joining forces with EA to leverage their sports platform, and expand our brand in the video game space.”

Brian Farrell, THQ’s Chairman and CEO, commented, “We have relished our relationship with UFC over the last several years and believe that the UFC gaming brand is in great shape. THQ’s more focused strategy moving forward meant that transferring the license to EA made sense to all parties. We would like to thank UFC for their great support and partnership and wish EA all the best moving forward.”

Could be good news. Mixing the best elements of both games.

[seansloan]

I heard about this yesterday,but I didnt know about the license swap.You would think it would have been a bigger deal when they were doing their press release today.Having Andy come out instead of Joe Montana would have been a big pop

[LordZardoz]

Personally I wonder what this is going to do as far as support for the UFC Undisputed 3 game, and its developers.

Making a UFC 4 game on top of EA's engine would result in an inferior product. If Yukes is kept on as the developer and the server management / publisher crap is done by EA, it could be a good move.

END COMMUNICATION

[HugeMMAFan]

As a gamer, I heard THQ is going through some issues right now. It's why they are going to EA. I wonder how Dana feels about this.

[Best80smovieRAD]

THQ has been struggling bad so it makes sense they would dump the license. I heard THQ might not even be around after 2013. WWE games is the only thing making them money

[RPD]

EA kills innovation in games.

[Best80smovieRAD]

EA kills innovation in games.

EA MMA though was much better than undisputed 1, 2 and 3 in my opinion. I am looking forward to this

[HugeMMAFan]

EA MMA though was much better than undisputed 1, 2 and 3 in my opinion. I am looking forward to this

What's more important, is to combine the best features of each game, make it work seamlessly, and not have the weaknesses of both.

[LordZardoz]

EA MMA though was much better than undisputed 1, 2 and 3 in my opinion. I am looking forward to this

EA MMA was better than Undisputed 2, not as good as Undisputed 3. EA MMA had a better career mode and a better submission system then Undisputed 3. For EA MMA you had to train up specific drills, and then you could just auto repeat the drills once you mastered it. It meant you spent more time in the fights. Also the submission system from Undisputed 2 was to blindly spin your analog stick in a smooth motion with very little feedback to let you know if you were doing it wrong. If you did not get a fast sub, you were not sure if you had any chance to complete the submission at all. The EA MMA system for submissions let you know very easily if you were doing well or doing poorly.

But Undisupted 3 addressed both of those issues. The training in Undisputed 3 was more interactive and did not take egregiously long. The lack of an 'auto repeat' was a bit of a letdown, but manageable since all training screens were pretty damn fast, and you could still just pick the 'auto' button if you did not mind having a less than perfect training result. The submission system was criticized a bit for taking you 'out of the game' to do the bar chasing, but it gives you a damn good idea of how strong your submission attack is vs the opponents sub defense. It was very possible to complete a sub that was not going to go to you easily.

What truly put UFC 3 over the top though are the interview clips with the fighters you can unlock, and the possibility of leg kick TKO's. The only complaint I have from Undisputed 3 is that it is sometimes way too damn difficult to learn new submissions.

END COMMUNICATION

[seansloan]

rewinding the dvr to catch this.Ea did bring out the big guns.Dana comes out in some ****ty looking jeans that cost 300 bucks probably.EA guy says its a "multi year multi product partnership".Dana says he is happy to be here.Ea guy says he is thrilled to be working together,Dana says the same.Dana says the UFC is the hottest growing blah blah.Says game is gonna be avail in 22 different languages.Deal must have come together recently because there is zero footage other than the fence and the ea logo.