The producers are blaming boxing for this game failure

[SHAKYR]

Re: The producers are blaming boxing for this game failure

I agree. Great games sell more because they ARE great.

one stat I'd love to see for games would be something like retention or if there is a better word I'm all ears.

I'd like to know which games are held on to the longest by the original buyer. For example I really did not like FN4, but I bought it and got rid of it within a week. I did the same thing with only not as short with UFC 2010, but I held onto 2009 for a VERY long time same as Oblivion RB6V1 and CoD4. And then there are games I've never gotten rid of like all-pro and Williams collection Pinball lol, I can't see myself getting rid of NBA2k11 either.

For example today I got rid of mlb2k11, homefront and fallout new vegas, and picked up brink and la noire. Going through my games there are a few I wouldn't even consider trading in. In other words FN champion is somewhat disposable, I still have it, but I'm not married to keeping it because it has it's issues that bother me, but not as bad as fn4.

I wish there were more combat simulation games, like K-1 bowed out a while ago and I had some fun with those. It would be cool if natural motion took a stab at boxing or muaythai/kickboxing.

In any case I agree about quality = sales to a degree, but to even futher that quality = actually holding on to a game for more than a month. The state of boxing isn't as big of a factor as the producers would have you think, and actually boxing especially recently has been VERY good. a few weeks ago there was so much good boxing on that I couldn't even watch it all since it was overlapping.

I actually cover boxing every few months in a local hockey arena and it draws close to capacity of 5 thousand people, everyone who goes loves it.

I totally agree with many of the things you said in your post. I also knew The Champion Mode was going to bring this series down. It's the only polished part of the game. Everything else seems to be added last minute.

I also agree boxing isn't in as bad shape as the producers and much of the media makes it. I live in Newar, Nj and the Prudential Center always has a full crowd. I also go to many amatuer shows and the crowds are deep. I train my son and I know the sport inside and out so nobody can tell how bad the sport is doing. I'm a huge fan.

[SHAKYR]

Re: The producers are blaming boxing for this game failure

Just curious, what is the basis for the claim that EA is blaming sales on sagging interest in boxing as a whole? Not saying it wasn't said, but I haven't seen a link to an article or a thread showing an official (or unofficial) EA position on this.

I have personally talked to the producers. I have their email. I used to be a Senior Moderator on the Fight Night forum. I'm also a Fight Night Community Leader (a title they didn't take back).

You don't believe me. You can actually go to one of the producer's Facebook page and ask him. His Name is Brian"Brizzo" Hayes http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?...3527349&ref=ts

[Hova57]

Re: The producers are blaming boxing for this game failure

If the producers would have implemented everything I gave them in that wishlist I gave them instead of a couple of things, Fight Night Champion would have been a huge success. Where do you think some of the tendency sliders ideas came from?

Why do you think a person like me didn't buy the game? I'm an boxing fan who love old school, new school, journey men, and their sparring partners. There were many fans of the series who just didn't buy the game. I'm not a fan of MMA, but I would but an MMA game because of it's depth and gameplay. Word of mouth sold me on to UFC 2009 when it came out not the popularity.

I never disagreed with you i agreed with everyone who made the first couple of posts. I read you initial list of tendency sliders , but they didn't do it. the success of this game lays with EA nothing more we can do. We'll get this patch maybe another tuner and they will act like they never made this game.

[JayBee74]

Re: The producers are blaming boxing for this game failure

Actually, the game is now not that bad, at least online. Much better than FN4.

Sadly there will be no desire for another company to go the boxing route, and I think EA will discontinue further attempts.

[KSUowls]

Re: The producers are blaming boxing for this game failure

Not an MMA fan, and I'm only a casual boxing fan (kind of want to get into it more, but I never seem to catch the fights). Still I bought both FN3 and 4 when they were both each pretty knew and had a lot of fun. 3 was more fun than 4, but I enjoyed starting a legacy with Mike Tyson.

The reason I didn't buy the latest FN was because of word of mouth. I heard it just wasn't as good. I actually did cave in and bought a used copy from gamestop so I could return it if I didn't like it (Gamestop has since taken back possession of it).

So I think the problem is the lack of quality in the game that produced bad WoM marketing. It certainly kept me from buying it.

[DaveDQ]

Re: The producers are blaming boxing for this game failure

Why can't it be a combination of the two? Put aside the notion that boxing isn't popular. Boxing isn't popular among video game players. It's boring to them.

After playing this game from its release day until now, yes it has many issues. They tried to do too much and the troubles with implementation just snowballed. What did give the game some steam was the storyline. But that didn't last at all. I still say they shouldn't have put that in. The focus needs to be tight. They just tried to do too much.

Combine the two things: Boxing isn't popular among gamers and a very rough around the edges game and I think you see a game that fell off the planet rather quickly.

[kingsofthevalley]

Re: The producers are blaming boxing for this game failure

I'm still trying to figure out where all of this "game is a failure" and "folks dont like this game" mumbo jumbo is really coming from? I personally enjoy this FN WAY more than any other version, always catching fights online, and still play legacy mode faithfully. Sooo, I'm actually not supposed to be liking this game or something? I didnt get that memo folks, and if I do get that memo its going straight in the trash can lol. I enjoy this game.

Its as sim as you want it to be.

[Complex]

Re: The producers are blaming boxing for this game failure

Bad economy......

[BoomerSooner420]

Re: The producers are blaming boxing for this game failure

All of this being said as Mayweather and Pacquiao attract more viewers and rake in more cash than any fighter in boxing history, mma history, or any other combat sport. Nevermind that the most popular athlete in the world today is Manny Pacquiao. Not some glass jaw mma wrestler or something.

I'm sure EA's failure is to be blamed on the sport of boxing... (that's sarcasm for those of you too dense to catch it, and judging by most of these posts...)

[Complex]

Re: The producers are blaming boxing for this game failure

Fight Night Champion's lackluster sales are due to a lot of things. As I stated above the economy plays a major role, Round 4 was dropped at a more prosperous time for the US. Second, it was dropped at a time when ALOT of new great games came out. There have been more titles dropped this year than any other in a long time.

Lastly, this time around the game remained largely unchanged. People saw the champion mode as a thinly veiled tutorial and the career mode as a version 1.2 and not a fully vetted career mode change.

Dynamic games sell. I point to Demon Souls which was released over a year and a half ago, is still floating in gamefaqs top 10 of PS3 games today. Its such a great and deep experience that folks are still buying it today.

[HotSauce2k3]

Re: The producers are blaming boxing for this game failure

Has anyone mentioned yet how much of a turnoff the whole EXP packs thing is?

[kingsofthevalley]

Re: The producers are blaming boxing for this game failure

I'm curious to know how much was spent to make the game. I mean, 600,000 sales doesn't sound half bad to me.

[Hal Fowler]

Re: The producers are blaming boxing for this game failure

It came out within weeks of three racing games, Tiger Woods 12, and the baseball games. Couple that with boxing trending down, and it just wasn't going to get a good initial sell through.

If it was a great game, it could have a long tail. I didn't pick it up becasue I just had too much other stuff on my plate. But I was really interested in checking it out.

But that has passed, and it turned out to be not awesome. Would I really get a lot of value over just playing my current copies of FNR3 and FNR4?

It won't make this forum happy, but EA needs to go much more arcade with this title. The realism kind of bogs it down. If they want to sell a million copies, realism is not the way to go.

[Jukeman]

It's 2011, every kid/gamer are on message boards..

Whether it's YouTube or some unnamed forum..

I'll believe this untill I'm proven otherwise..

Ive read alot of bad reviews about the game.

Word of Mouth

[eye guy]

Re: The producers are blaming boxing for this game failure

The main thing that had me disliking the title from the beginning was the fact that they made it too easy to throw complicated punches, like hookacuts etc, which meant leaning is/was only useful on defense.

Throwing punches from angles is one of the (many) main reasons why FNR4 (with all it's faults) is still better than FNC. I remember reading somewhere that they wanted to get rid of some of the complexities of TPC, which left us with rock 'n' sock 'em gameplay.

Imo, they need to re-introduce the control scheme they already had in FNR4 and improve on issues they had in both round 4 and champion. Give us more control, more options in the virtual ring, not take them away.

Also, the whole Stamina thing is flawed., but that's another story.