Electronic Arts has expanded its sports franchises by adding UFC to its roster in a move that has left THQ with one less intellectual property as the publisher struggles on the financial front.
EA Sports is one of the biggest names when it comes to sports simulation titles. With series such as Madden, FIFA and NHL among others, EA Sports dominates the market in terms of providing an expansive, all-encompassing variety of sports simulation games, however, the one market that it did not tap was MMA and wrestling.
THQ had the rights to both the WWE and UFC, which meant that EA could not officially develop any games based on the characters in those events.
However, all that changed at E3 as Dana White, the UFC President, announced that the license to develop future UFC titles would be handed over to EA Sports. He said, "This is a huge day for the UFC and more importantly you the fans. This is the big one, finally; EA Sports.”
Later on Brain Farrell, the CEO of THQ, thanked the UFC and hoped that their relationship with EA would be a great one.
“We would like to thank UFC for their great support and partnership and wish EA all the best moving forward."
UFC President, Dana White, also went on to state that the franchise was pleased with the switch to EA sports after having previously labelled them a joke a few years back. He said, "There's no one better at creating authentic sports videogames than EA Sports, and we're excited to have a partner who shares our vision of deep, connected and multi-platform global game experiences."
Meanwhile, Andrew Wilson, the head of EA Sports, was also on hand to hype up the new deal as was full of praise for the MMA event. "UFC has become a global powerhouse because they have the world's best fighters, competing in the world's best mixed martial arts events.”
EA is set to release a UFC title in the near future and one can expect a fair bit of experimentation from the studio which has little experience with sports such as MMA.
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