Ring The Bell: EA Sports To Announce Plans For Latest Boxing Game

By Eric Fisher, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal

EA Sports today plans to announce the '09 release of "Fight Night 4," the latest iteration of its licensed boxing franchise, after an absence of more than two years. The release is set to be heralded today with a motion-capture event at EA's Vancouver development facility with Lennox Lewis, Sugar Ray Leonard and Winky Wright. The game features the inclusion of the likeness of Mike Tyson. There had been some industry concern about the future of the Fight Night franchise after EA's announcement of "Facebreaker," an arcade-style boxing game that does not rely on licensed intellectual property and is set for release in September. But EA execs will use today's event to convey their intent to pursue both paths of game development. "Fight Night 3," released in February '06, was one of EA's early experiments with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 consoles following their respective releases.

TWO SUB-BRANDS ANNOUNCED: The boxing announcements will arrive a day after the release of two new EA Sports sub-brands aimed at casual game players. EA Sports All-Play will encompass specially-developed Nintendo Wii versions of its Madden NFL, NCAA Football, Tiger Woods Golf, FIFA Soccer and NBA Live titles. EA Sports Freestyle, meanwhile, will house newly developed titles that do not rely on licensed intellectual property. Two other titles for the Freestyle sub-brand are currently in development, and while EA has not disclosed the details of each, at least one will target the health and fitness area that already is the subject of significant gaming and retail industry interest with the May 19 American release of Wii Fit. The pace and ease of play of the All-Play titles, meanwhile, is considerably simpler and faster than the PS3 or Xbox 360 versions of the same games. EA Sports President Peter Moore: "In no way are we abandoning the true depth, ultra-realistic experience that's been our hallmark for 20 years. But these are specifically engineered experiences that will allow for a lot more ease of use and a deeply social experience."