Reportedly, semi-controversial EA Sports UFC 4 - hit store shelves in August 2020.
But before the Ultimate Fighting Championship brand sat at the forefront of EA's fighting game focus, Fight Night constituted one of the publisher's top priorities. The boxing series entered the picture in 2004 with the aptly titled Fight Night 2004, effectively serving as a spiritual successor to Electronic Arts' short-lived Knockout Kings franchise. Two other boxing titles followed in quick succession, with Fight Night Round 2 launching in 2005 and Round 3 arriving in 2006. After a brief hiatus, Round 4 hit stores in 2009. No one knew it at the time but the boxing series would ride the bench for a decade following 2011's Fight Night Championship. The long wait for Fight Night's return could end in the coming years, though.
According to a major fighting game projects at once, especially given the difficulties in staffing up for Fight Night amid a highly competitive marketplace.
The email obtained by VGC reads in part: "We’re very excited about UFC 5 and… we want to eliminate the split focus that several of our leadership team have had over the past while so we can solely focus on delivering migration and UFC 5 at high quality." EA wouldn't respond to a request for comment, but VGC said it understands the publisher's renewed interest in Fight Night is born out of a desire to regain dominance in the fighting game space.
If there's a semblance of truth to the above claims, this will surely go down as bittersweet news for those who've long awaited Fight Night's resurgence. But it seems the wait may only last a few more years.
EA Sports games represent the publisher's bread and butter, with the continued success of FIFA and Madden NFL, in particular. Change sits just beyond the horizon, though. Most notably, EA may retire the FIFA name following negotiation disagreements with FIFA itself. And leaked information suggests the soccer series will adopt a free-to-play model for its next entry.
EA Sports UFC 5 is supposedly slated to launch late in 2022; release details about the alleged Fight Night project remain unknown.
Source: VGC
