Getting Ready For A Fight: EA Sports To Launch MMA Title In '10
By Eric Fisher, Staff Writer, SportsBusiness Journal
EA Sports, conducting its press conference at the annual E3 Conference yesterday in L.A., announced plans to release a mixed martial arts title in '10, confirming long-discussed rumors. “EA Sports MMA” will be released on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and feature an as-yet-undisclosed set of individually licensed fighters. Rival software developer THQ holds a license with UFC through '11 and last month successfully released “UFC 2009 Undisputed,” but EA Sports President Peter Moore said, “We think we can bring a differentiated experience and grow the category.” The MMA plans build upon a growing general interest in fighting games by EA Sports, with the release date for “Fight Night Round 4” in the newly revived boxing franchise set for later this month.
ACTIVE SALES: EA Sports, meanwhile, also disclosed at E3 that it has sold at retail more than 600,000 copies worldwide of “EA Sports Active,” the new fitness title it released two weeks ago for the Nintendo Wii. The global sales total marks EA’s best-ever launch results for a title on the Wii platform. The success has quickly emboldened EA Sports to develop plans for an “Active” expansion pack that will be released this fall for the holiday shopping season. The expansion pack will include additional exercises such as squash, waterskiing, workouts that more specifically target users’ core muscles, and new scenery. “We knew we were on to something with ‘Active,’ but these kind of sales numbers and the critical reaction it’s received has fully confirmed that,” Moore said. “Now our challenge is to build upon that, add more exercises, heighten the challenge and give people more of what they’re looking for.”
DIGITAL HUB: The publisher additionally has consolidated its easports.com and easportsworld.com Web sites into a merged and redesigned easports.com. For now operating in a public beta at beta.easports.com, the new site will feature links for online gaming and social interaction, developer blogs, trailers for upcoming titles, game customization tools and a battery of other content. The revamped site will also help support EA Sports’ entry into browser-based gaming, which will begin in earnest this fall with the release of “Tiger Woods PGA Tour Online.”
SAMPRAS SLAM: Moore additionally brought out tennis legend Pete Sampras during the press conference to tout “Grand Slam Tennis,” which will be released June 8 on the Wii. The game is one of the first designed to take full effect of the Wii Motion Plus, a peripheral that attaches to the Wii controller to create a greater degree of motion sensitivity and control.
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