Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

[allBthere]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

I don't know much about game development (please correct me if I'm wrong) but if EA has only one fight team and they're only going to make one fight game, wouldn't it make more financial sense to them to continue making UFC games? To make a boxing game it seems like they'd have to build it from the ground up, at least for next-gen systems, whereas for UFC they've already made that investment in a core gameplay system that they can more cheaply build on/tweak for future releases.

Don't get me wrong, as a longtime boxing fan, I'm squarely on team Fight Night. I'm just not very optimistic we'll see a boxing game any time soon from EA, unless boxing surges in popularity, or the UFC series completely tanks.

I believe both of those things are happening only in a less dramatic way. Very interesting articles I've read on the UFC and it's decline or pull-back and 2015 is such a huge year for boxing and the past few years have been pretty good as well. I've actually found myself passing on many recent UFC events - and have knowingly passed because despite how hard supporters argue to the contrary, I find cards weaker and thus easier to pass on, on a more frequent basis, and I have disliked the fox deal since day 1 and think that also hurts as well.

On the flip side, as many problems as boxing has with promoters ego's and sanctioning bodies, there have been many fascinating fights in the past few years and this year I'm just so excited for, without even throwing in the enormous circus that is floyd and manny.

I think with the sales of EA UFC being much lower than expected combined with the current climate we are in, EA will at least have meeting about it, and potentially bringing back FN

[SHAKYR]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

1st and foremost outstanding article. I also hope that fight night returns and I hope it happens soon. I always felt the fight night series was one of the more technically sound games ever made. I love how you have to balance your stamina, time your counters, wear opponents down, let them wear themselves out through head movement, blocking, ring savy and then unleash holy hell on them when the time was right. Fight Night doubles as a button masher but like you said if you take the time to perfect the sweet science you can become a true master. Not to mention its one of the best looking games ever but for me its all about the game play. EA turns me off because most of their decisions are strictly about money as seen in the Madden series and I understand this but for the gamers and fans all we care about are the games we love.

You giving Fight Night Champion too much credit. The hardcore boxing fans and even boxers didn't think it was realistic as other sports game and the sim aspects were missing. The depth of modes were not there and the game needed a manager mode.

[SPRINGS03]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

You giving Fight Night Champion too much credit. The hardcore boxing fans and even boxers didn't think it was realistic as other sports game and the sim aspects were missing. The depth of modes were not there and the game needed a manager mode.

Word. Fight night champion was ok, but it had a ton of gameplay problems(forced misses, weird punch offsetting, bad scoring, bad/repetitive knockdown animations and stun animations etc.) and a lot of boxing heads had issues with it, go to the fight night champion forums and see all of the threads about problems there(i used to visit those forums alot). It was a beautiful looking game, i'll say that. But i honestly feel like champion and round 4 were a step down from the previous 3. For their time FN 1-3 were amazing, and in some ways they still have more details than fn Champion does. Champion messed up by focusing too much on things like the champion mode, which was completely unnecessary.

[Pappy Knuckles]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

I'm a casual boxing fan and a hardcore mma guy. I don't want to see EA UFC go anywhere, but I'm still itching for a decent boxing game. I really don't care who makes it. I think there's plenty of room in the market for both games to coexist.

[SHAKYR]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

I'm a casual boxing fan and a hardcore mma guy. I don't want to see EA UFC go anywhere, but I'm still itching for a decent boxing game. I really don't care who makes it. I think there's plenty of room in the market for both games to coexist.

The survival of either game would be on it's overall realism and depth.

[JayBee74]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

The survival of either game would be on it's overall realism and depth.

But I will say this. Can they do it right now? I would sacrifice some total realism for a fun, tactical, boxing game even it's a 2D Evander Holyfield perspective. Give me something.

I'm a casual boxing fan and a hardcore mma guy. I don't want to see EA UFC go anywhere, but I'm still itching for a decent boxing game. I really don't care who makes it. I think there's plenty of room in the market for both games to coexist.

I said it before. If the UFC game had a strike only mode, I would have bought it. I actually liked the two player K-1 battles a few years ago.

[ILuvMN81]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

Excellent article, good discussion.

I'd like to say I'd love to see a new Fight Night or really any boxing series come to the newer consoles. I'd hope it could co-exist with UFC since I like both.

Never tried EA UFC, but it sounds like I should be glad I didn't. The last UFC game I played was THQ's UFC 3; it wasn't perfect, but it had some great modes and content. I hope EA does what the THQ UFC series developers did and listen to the fans and evolve.

I kind of like the story mode in FN Champion, it was something different.

As for my thoughts on UFC vs boxing in the real world...hmm, gotta go with boxing. Boxing is more available and accessible; it's on NBC occasionally. If it weren't for the UFC on Fox, I'd never see an event. Cut the cable long ago and even if I had cable, I'm not paying the $ for the PPVs, especially sub-par ones.

[SHAKYR]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

Excellent article, good discussion.

I'd like to say I'd love to see a new Fight Night or really any boxing series come to the newer consoles. I'd hope it could co-exist with UFC since I like both.

Never tried EA UFC, but it sounds like I should be glad I didn't. The last UFC game I played was THQ's UFC 3; it wasn't perfect, but it had some great modes and content. I hope EA does what the THQ UFC series developers did and listen to the fans and evolve.

I kind of like the story mode in FN Champion, it was something different.

As for my thoughts on UFC vs boxing in the real world...hmm, gotta go with boxing. Boxing is more available and accessible; it's on NBC occasionally. If it weren't for the UFC on Fox, I'd never see an event. Cut the cable long ago and even if I had cable, I'm not paying the $ for the PPVs, especially sub-par ones.

I agree with what I put in bold.

[SHAKYR]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

[PLEASE DELETE]

[Cabish]

Bring back fight night, but don't bring back the cartoonish aspect...the big flashing light and sound effect on punches...the first one for PS3 was great then they started going south.

[billybong]

Floyd Mayweather Jr. was it's original titled "Knockout Kings" Actually in the beginning, everyone was on the boxing games but then other than Mike Tyson

[RACZILLA]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

When it comes to combat sports I'm not convinced I'd even want to try and build a traditional $60 box product game at this point.

For boxing I'd rather see an offering that's got a really tight core game with a lower than usual barrier to entry to draw more people in. F2P, maybe an offering as part of a subscription if it comes from a large publisher, etc.

I think initially it might be OK if the game didn't have a ton of depth if it had a good core loop that brought people back. Then over time you could prove out the concept and add additional features that help bring in or better retain players.

There's more competition than ever when it comes to how people spend their time. Like any successful title, a boxing game would have to make people feel invested so they continue to come back. I think that's hard to do when you require a AAA type feature set that turns something that's ultimately a niche product (not just sports but a subset of a subset) into a sink or swim proposition where you either make or lose your money in the first 7-14 days. It's just an awful lot of risk to ask someone to take on.

As tools become more accessible maybe we'll get lucky and an indie dev will pop up with a vision for the next great boxing game. In the meantime I'll continue to enjoy what we've got since there are no guarantees beyond that.

[SHAKYR]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

When it comes to combat sports I'm not convinced I'd even want to try and build a traditional $60 box product game at this point.

For boxing I'd rather see an offering that's got a really tight core game with a lower than usual barrier to entry to draw more people in. F2P, maybe an offering as part of a subscription if it comes from a large publisher, etc.

I think initially it might be OK if the game didn't have a ton of depth if it had a good core loop that brought people back. Then over time you could prove out the concept and add additional features that help bring in or better retain players.

There's more competition than ever when it comes to how people spend their time. Like any successful title, a boxing game would have to make people feel invested so they continue to come back. I think that's hard to do when you require a AAA type feature set that turns something that's ultimately a niche product (not just sports but a subset of a subset) into a sink or swim proposition where you either make or lose your money in the first 7-14 days. It's just an awful lot of risk to ask someone to take on.

As tools become more accessible maybe we'll get lucky and an indie dev will pop up with a vision for the next great boxing game. In the meantime I'll continue to enjoy what we've got since there are no guarantees beyond that.

Dang, you just sucked the air out the post Raczilla...lol! I like what I put in bold. I'm a greedy boxing fan, quite few other boxing fans and boxers feel the same way as I do. I just wish these fans and boxers were more outspoken and supportive. I agree with everything in bold.

[jmarcguy]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

I got on FN Champion for the first time in a year. I enjoyed this game but there's so much wrong with it. I've never understood the online scoring. I've had rounds where I landed 15 - 20 more punches than my opponent & I lost the round. Not endless jabs either but hooks & uppercuts. My opponent loaded up on power punches. I've had guys back up constantly & throw these robotic straight punches to the body. Over & over & that wins a fight. The game rewards you for playing video game boxing. You can't truly move & give Angles. You can't control a round with a jab. I'm not talking about 5 or 6 jabs over & over but using a stiff jab to break rhythm.

Playing last night was the same bs.

[RACZILLA]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

I got on FN Champion for the first time in a year. I enjoyed this game but there's so much wrong with it. I've never understood the online scoring. I've had rounds where I landed 15 - 20 more punches than my opponent & I lost the round. Not endless jabs either but hooks & uppercuts. My opponent loaded up on power punches. I've had guys back up constantly & throw these robotic straight punches to the body. Over & over & that wins a fight. The game rewards you for playing video game boxing. You can't truly move & give Angles. You can't control a round with a jab. I'm not talking about 5 or 6 jabs over & over but using a stiff jab to break rhythm.

Playing last night was the same bs.

I remember feeling like the scoring was a little bit better the way the game shipped on the disc. I think the last title update made the scoring somewhat inconsistent.

Of course if you want to play online you've got to use the latest update.