Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

[fistofrage]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

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.

The game was so much better when it shipped. Unfortunately the online win at all costs whiners complained they couldn't win by button mashing so they patched and destroyed the game for the most part. It can still be decent offline, but its worse now than at launch.

Unfortunately the DLC is tied to the patched so in order to use the DLC that you paid for you have to have the patch even for offline. It really stinks.

[aholbert32]

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.

Couldnt disagree more. Before the Haymon PBC series started a month ago. High level boxing hasnt been on regular or free cable TV since the 80s. The only non-PPV, Showtime or HBO boxing was ESPN's Friday Night Fights and random cards on FS1 and NBCSN.

Haymon's employees have even been quoted as saying that the reason they started the PBC series was because Boxing wasnt accessible anymore and openly admit to copying many elements from the UFC including production elements, the choice to go on broadcast TV and the promotional structure.

Also even with the PBC, I dont know how you can be a boxing fan and not have access to HBO/Showtime/PPV unless you are illegally watching fights or waiting until they appear on Youtube. Without HBO or Showtime, you havent seen the following fighters:

Floyd, Manny, GGG, Cotto, Kovalev, Stevenson, Chavez Jr., Martinez....the list goes on and on.

[aholbert32]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

To clarify on this, EA and the UFC were still making the deal and these financial decisions in late 2011 or early 2012, so the "spectre" of Brock that I referred to was very real. EA saw a company with high buy rates (because of Brock), and they made the deal with that in mind.

Even when losing, Brock was a huge draw, which explains why he's so coveted by the UFC now.

I have to disagree with this. There was no "spectre of Brock" in early 2012. He just got destroyed by Overeem, retired and signed with WWE in January 2012. The UFC and EA knew that Brock was not coming back for 3 yrs when he signed that deal so I dont know how that would motivate EA to make the UFC deal.

There are clear reasons why EA is more focused on the UFC than Boxing:

1) Costs: Its significantly cheaper to create a UFC than a boxing game due to the fact that the UFC license comes with 99.9% of the likenesses of the fighters under contract. Unlike with Fight Night, you dont have to negotiate a deal with each individual fighter. While FN has always done decent numbers when it comes to sales, the cost of signing fighters like Ali, Pac, Tyson etc. are expensive.

2) Roster: I still play FNC regularly and the reason why is because I was able to expand the roster through Fighter Share. I have great versions of Floyd, GGG and other fighters that I downloaded over the years. That helps me deal with the fact that FNC's roster is kind of small.

What sucks is that any future version of Fight Night WONT HAVE A FIGHTER SHARE. EA is now gunshy about lawsuits and is not adding that feature to future games (Brian Hayes confirmed it when it was missing from UFC). Now it didnt kill EA UFC because EA consistently added new fighters and 6 months later had 90% of the fighters that people were requesting. They were able to do that because as I stated before, it costs them nothing to add fighters to the game (thats why the DLC was free). You cant do that with Boxing because again you have to pay each fighter individually.

I would love to see a new Fight Night but I can understand why EA is slow to make that happen. A UFC game is cheaper from a development and promotional (free promotion at every UFC event).

[allBthere]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

Couldnt disagree more. Before the Haymon PBC series started a month ago. High level boxing hasnt been on regular or free cable TV since the 80s. The only non-PPV, Showtime or HBO boxing was ESPN's Friday Night Fights and random cards on FS1 and NBCSN.

.

just correcting this part of your post. HBO and Showtime over the past number of years have offered high-level NON ppv bouts as well. The last 2 free HBO cards did around a million views.

I just saw the GGG fight in Monte Carlo though last night, not sure when that aired so I may be referring to the 2 before that one for the numbers... in any case, I agree with most of what you said, with the execption that HBO and showtime offer great free cards from time to time, so it's not just FNF's - and those shows are more for prospects and mid-range guys imo. You never see marquee matchups on ESPN - although that is looking to change too this year from what I'm reading.

/tangent

[aholbert32]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

just correcting this part of your post. HBO and Showtime over the past number of years have offered high-level NON ppv bouts as well. The last 2 free HBO cards did around a million views.

I just saw the GGG fight in Monte Carlo though last night, not sure when that aired so I may be referring to the 2 before that one for the numbers... in any case, I agree with most of what you said, with the execption that HBO and showtime offer great free cards from time to time, so it's not just FNF's - and those shows are more for prospects and mid-range guys imo. You never see marquee matchups on ESPN - although that is looking to change too this year from what I'm reading.

/tangent

I think you read my post wrong. I grouped Non PPV/Showtime/HBO together. This was in response to the original poster saying that he cut the cord and didnt have cable.

Prior to the PBC, there was NO way to be a big boxing fan without cable. You need cable to access HBO/Showtime and PPV. Also, HBO and Showtime are pay channels in the US. Once or twice a year they may have a free weekend that may include a fight but that isnt guaranteed. Also, you still need cable to access those channels.

[SHAKYR]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

More networks are following PBC, boxing isn't as dead as people keep trying to make it. There are 5 major networks working to bring more boxing to TV.

[aholbert32]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

More networks are following PBC, boxing isn't as dead as people keep trying to make it. There are 5 major networks working to bring more boxing to TV.

Other than trolls, who says boxing is dead? I find it funny that many hardcore boxing fans accuse casual fans and the media of saying that. The worst I hear people say is that Boxing isnt as popular as it was in the 80's or 90's and thats true.

One other thing: Lets not use PBC as a sign that the networks are buying in to boxing because they arent.....yet. Every deal Haymon has done (CBS, NBC Spike, ESPN) has been a time buy. What that means is Haymon paid the networks for those timeslots. Thats a big difference than Top Rank's deal with HBO or the UFC on Fox, where the networks are paying the promotions to air fights.

The good news is that PBC has rated well and its likely that if Haymon puts on more good fights that one or two of those networks will attempt to sign PBC to an exclusive deal and pay Haymon for the fights. Also, because its a time buy, Haymon gets to keep the ad sales dollars which if he continues to get ratings will help cover the costs of the time buys.

[SHAKYR]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

Other than trolls, who says boxing is dead? I find it funny that many hardcore boxing fans accuse casual fans and the media of saying that. The worst I hear people say is that Boxing isnt as popular as it was in the 80's or 90's and thats true.

One other thing: Lets not use PBC as a sign that the networks are buying in to boxing because they arent.....yet. Every deal Haymon has done (CBS, NBC Spike, ESPN) has been a time buy. What that means is Haymon paid the networks for those timeslots. Thats a big difference than Top Rank's deal with HBO or the UFC on Fox, where the networks are paying the promotions to air fights.

The good news is that PBC has rated well and its likely that if Haymon puts on more good fights that one or two of those networks will attempt to sign PBC to an exclusive deal and pay Haymon for the fights. Also, because its a time buy, Haymon gets to keep the ad sales dollars which if he continues to get ratings will help cover the costs of the time buys.

I agree with much of what you said but you have to go to some of these boxing sites and see the so-called fans that hang on them forums.

[aholbert32]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

I agree with much of what you said but you have to go to some of these boxing sites and see the so-called fans that hang on them forums.

Oh Ok. I avoid those like the plague. Same with the MMA forums on other sites. Combat sports will never die. MMA isnt a niche sport and neither is boxing. People like fights. The UFC has two MAJOR fights coming this summer and their PPV numbers have already been great this year. Boxing is doing great this year with the PBC ratings, good fights like Provodnikov/Matthyse coming up and the biggest fight in a generation on May 2.

Like I said, people like big fights and that will always be the case.

[SHAKYR]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

Oh Ok. I avoid those like the plague. Same with the MMA forums on other sites. Combat sports will never die. MMA isnt a niche sport and neither is boxing. People like fights. The UFC has two MAJOR fights coming this summer and their PPV numbers have already been great this year. Boxing is doing great this year with the PBC ratings, good fights like Provodnikov/Matthyse coming up and the biggest fight in a generation on May 2.

Like I said, people like big fights and that will always be the case.

One of the EA producers said boxing was a niche sport. A few fans and boxers got mad too. This makes you think the producers wasn't passionate about the sport in general.

[RACZILLA]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

I would agree it's niche in the sense that when you look at the sports gaming landscape, a majority of the other sports that are successful have a significantly larger audience. The same can be said for MMA.

Neither of these sports rivals something like the NFL (150MM fans in U.S.), NBA, etc. IIRC correctly boxing has something like 17-20MM fans in the U.S. Of course it's much more popular worldwide.

The key difference between MMA and boxing when it comes to video games is that the MMA audience skews a bit younger, which puts it closer to core gaming demos.

Here are some links if you'd like to look through some recent research on the combat sports audience.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/10/4/3451586/mma-analysis-fan-data-shows-bright-future-ufc-combat-sports

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2012/10/01/Research-and-Ratings/Up-Next.aspx

http://mmapayout.com/2013/05/survey-shows-popularity-of-boxing-and-ufc/

I don't mean to suggest a boxing game can't exist or can't be successful, but there are some reasons why we've arrived where we have.

[Yung AJ24]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

Need a new Fight Night, hell an updated Fight Night Champion would be enough for me. I couldn't care less about EA UFC.

[SHAKYR]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

I would agree it's niche in the sense that when you look at the sports gaming landscape, a majority of the other sports that are successful have a significantly larger audience. The same can be said for MMA.

Neither of these sports rivals something like the NFL (150MM fans in U.S.), NBA, etc. IIRC correctly boxing has something like 17-20MM fans in the U.S. Of course it's much more popular worldwide.

The key difference between MMA and boxing when it comes to video games is that the MMA audience skews a bit younger, which puts it closer to core gaming demos.

Here are some links if you'd like to look through some recent research on the combat sports audience.

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2012/10/4/3451586/mma-analysis-fan-data-shows-bright-future-ufc-combat-sports

http://www.sportsbusinessdaily.com/Journal/Issues/2012/10/01/Research-and-Ratings/Up-Next.aspx

http://mmapayout.com/2013/05/survey-shows-popularity-of-boxing-and-ufc/

I don't mean to suggest a boxing game can't exist or can't be successful, but there are some reasons why we've arrived where we have.

I have been saying since day one that companies like EA need to give us what makes games like MLB: The Show, NBA 2K, FIFA, and Madden successful. They can tell us they failed after they gave the fans nearly everything they wanted. I never blame the sports for sales because I have picked up games because of it's depth and realism to the sport. I have done numerous polls and surveys over the years and it seems fans feel the overall game isn't accurate or deep enough for them. Many fans have flat out stop buying the Fight Night series.
It's about a great game not the tone of something. NBA 2k sells from word of mouth, actually quite a few game have sold this way. NBA Live has a cult following and they are struggling to get fans back. The reason is NBA Live isn't deep enough or real/sim enough to appeal the sports gamer taste.

[MVP Baseball 2015]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

For anyone looking to enjoy the hype before the Mayweather-Pacquiao clash, should play Fight Night Champion on Xbox 360. One of the features "Boxer Share" allows you to download created boxers made by other people. Many of these boxers suck, but every now and them you'll find a GEM that looks like the fighter was made by EA themselves. This is done by a photo scan feature that i personally have no clue how it works. But you can find a completely realistic Mayweather, and if playing an Unranked match online, you can fight the fight before the fight!!! Go Pacman!

[SPRINGS03]

Re: Where Is A New Fight Night Game?

^Yeah that's old news man, i downloaded a pretty good floyd mayweather, GGG, and sergio martinez CAB a long time ago.