EA Sports UFC

EA Sports UFC

EA Sports UFC Cover featuring Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson
Developer(s) EA Canada
SkyBox Labs
Publisher(s) Electronic Arts
Engine Ignite (PS4, XB1)
Platform(s) PlayStation 4
Xbox One
iOS
Android
Release date(s)

PlayStation 4 & Xbox One

  • WW June 17, 2014

iOS & Android

  • WW April 21, 2015
Genre(s) Fighting, sports

EA Sports UFC is a mixed martial arts sports video game developed by EA Canada and SkyBox Labs[1] for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It is based on the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) brand and was released on June 17, 2014. A playable demo was released on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Marketplace on June 3, 2014, with cover athletes Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson as playable fighters. It is the first UFC game since THQ sold the license to Electronic Arts.[2][3][4]

A free-to-play mobile version of the game was released for iOS and Android devices on April 21, 2015.[5] A sequel, EA Sports UFC 2, was released in the spring of 2016.[6]

Gameplay

The game's artificial intelligence accommodates for changes in player strategies mid-game to make the gaming experience more realistic than in previous UFC games.[7] The game also simulates "full body deformation" to connect players with their player-character. The Ultimate Fighter is featured at the start of Career Mode. Also included are perks unlocked throughout career to boost gameplans.

Development

Conflict originally arose between UFC president Dana White and Electronic Arts, when the UFC approached EA Sports to develop a UFC video game and EA refused. The UFC then turned to developer THQ to develop UFC titles. THQ's UFC 2009 Undisputed shipped approximately 2 million copies. With the success of the series, THQ quickly began working on a sequel, UFC Undisputed 2010, and followed this release with UFC Undisputed 3 in 2012.[8]

With the growing popularity of MMA (the UFC banner particularly) and THQ's success, Electronic Arts began working on EA Sports MMA, featuring UFC's then promotional rival, Strikeforce. After the closing of THQ, Electronic Arts announced a "multi-year, multi-product" partnership with the Ultimate Fighting Championship at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012.[7][9] THQ[10] reported that the publishing rights were purchased by EA Sports for an "undisclosed cash payment".[9] The first gameplay for the game was shown at the Xbox One reveal event in a trailer by EA Sports. The game is one of the first to run Electronic Arts's Ignite engine.[7][10] Electronic Arts put its Fight Night boxing franchise on hold while developing EA Sports UFC.[11] The company said that the decision was based primarily on its perception that the UFC has greater international prominence, although EA Sports did offer that the boxing series could potentially return.[11] The Fight Night team (EA Canada) became the UFC team.[8][11]

Roster

The roster was gradually revealed by EA Sports in batches.[12][13][14][15][16] The final roster consists of 97 UFC fighters (not including DLC additions).[17] UFC legend Royce Gracie[18] and late martial arts icon Bruce Lee[19] are both featured in the game as bonus unlockable fighters. Gracie is playable in the middleweight division, and Lee is playable in bantamweight, featherweight, lightweight and welterweight. A free content update was released for download on July 22, 2014, adding T.J. Dillashaw, Tyron Woodley and Takeya Mizugaki to the roster.[20] On August 26, 2014, EA released another patch that included heavyweight Stipe Miocic as well as welterweights Matt Brown and Mike Pyle. On October 2, EA released their third patch including Tim Kennedy and Gunnar Nelson, and also making Nick Diaz able to switch to the middleweight division. On October 29, EA released their fourth patch including Hector Lombard, Diego Sanchez and Michael Chiesa, and also making Gegard Mousasi able to switch to the middleweight division. On November 19, EA released a fifth patch, this one including Myles Jury, Andrei Arlovski, and Yoel Romero. On December 10, EA released a legends pack, which included Mark Coleman, Matt Hughes, Quinton Jackson and Brock Lesnar. On January 21, EA released a seventh patch, this one including Eddie Alvarez, Holly Holm, Rafael dos Anjos and Anthony Johnson. This was said to be the last major update as they will now focus on the sequel, due out in spring of 2016.

Reception

Reception
Aggregate scores
AggregatorScore
GameRankings(XONE) 71.00%[21]
(PS4) 69.23%[22]
Metacritic(XONE) 70/100[23]
(PS4) 70/100[24]
Review scores
PublicationScore
Eurogamer7/10[25]
Game Informer8/10[26]
GameSpot5/10[27]
GamesRadar[28]
IGN6.8/10[29]
Joystiq[30]
OXM7/10[31]
Polygon5/10[32]

EA Sports UFC received mixed to positive reviews. Aggregating scores Metacritic and GameRankings gave the Xbox One version a 70/100 and 71.00% respectively, and the PS4 version 70/100 and 69.23%.

References

  1. ↑ "EA Sports Co-developer: SkyBox Labs". Retrieved July 22, 2014.
  2. ↑ "EA Sports announces Madden, FIFA, UFC, and NBA games for Xbox One". GamesBeat.
  3. ↑ "First wave of Xbox One games includes 'FIFA 14,' 'Forza 5,' 'Call of Duty: Ghosts,' and 'Madden NFL 25'". The Verge.
  4. ↑ "EA Sports at Xbox One Reveal: UFC Video Game Will Be Available in "Next 12 Months" (video)". Yahoo! Sports.
  5. ↑ Makuch, Eddie (April 22, 2015). "EA Sports UFC Comes to Mobile, Promises "HD-Quality" Graphics". GameSpot. Retrieved April 22, 2015.
  6. ↑ "EA Sports UFC 2 Confirmed Details Coming Soon".
  7. 1 2 3 Corriea, Alexa Ray (June 10, 2013). "EA Sports UFC launching next spring for PS4 and Xbox One". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
  8. 1 2 Sarkar, Samit (May 20, 2013). "EA Sports unveiling UFC game May 21, same day of Microsoft's next-gen Xbox reveal". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
  9. 1 2 Pitcher, Jenna (May 8, 2013). "EA will not release Tiger Woods PGA Tour 15, UFC fighting game before April 2014". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
  10. 1 2 Sarkar, Samit (May 21, 2013). "Next-gen EA Sports titles running on Ignite engine at Xbox One reveal". Polygon. Vox Media. Archived from the original on June 10, 2013. Retrieved June 10, 2013.
  11. 1 2 3 Sarkar, Samit (May 24, 2013). "Fight Night series on hold for EA Sports UFC, says EA Sports boss". Polygon. Vox Media. Retrieved June 15, 2013.
  12. ↑ "'EA Sports UFC Roster Reveal Part 1'". January 10, 2014. Retrieved January 10, 2014.
  13. ↑ "'EA Sports UFC Roster Reveal Part 2'". February 20, 2014. Retrieved February 20, 2014.
  14. ↑ "'EA Sports UFC Roster Reveal Part 3'". April 4, 2014. Retrieved April 4, 2014.
  15. ↑ "'EA Sports UFC Roster Reveal Part 4'". June 5, 2014. Retrieved June 5, 2014.
  16. ↑ "'EA Sports UFC Roster Reveal Part 5'". June 16, 2014. Retrieved June 16, 2014.
  17. ↑ "'EA Sports UFC to offer around 100 fighters at launch'".
  18. ↑ "'Roll as Royce Gracie'". April 23, 2014. Retrieved April 23, 2014.
  19. ↑ "'Bruce Lee'". April 7, 2014. Retrieved April 7, 2014.
  20. ↑ "'EA Sports UFC - Free content update 1'". July 31, 2014. Retrieved July 31, 2014.
  21. ↑ "EA Sports UFC for Xbox One". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  22. ↑ "EA Sports UFC for PlayStation 4". GameRankings. CBS Interactive. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  23. ↑ "EA Sports UFC for Xbox One Reviews". Metacritic. Electronic Arts. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  24. ↑ "EA Sports UFC for PlayStation 4 Reviews". Metacritic. Electronic Arts. Retrieved 3 July 2014.
  25. ↑ "EA Sports UFC Review". Eurogamer. 17 June 2014.
  26. ↑ "EA Sports UFC Review". GamesInformer. 17 June 2014.
  27. ↑ "EA Sports UFC Review". Gamespot. 17 June 2014.
  28. ↑ "EA Sports UFC Review". Gamesrader. 17 June 2014.
  29. ↑ "EA Sports UFC Review: Toothless Aggression". IGN. 17 June 2014.
  30. ↑ "EA Sports UFC Review: Jon 'Barebones' Jones". Joystiq. 17 June 2014.
  31. ↑ "EA Sports UFC Review". Official Xbox Magazine. 17 June 2014.
  32. ↑ "EA Sports UFC Review: Losing Ground". Polygon. 17 June 2014.
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