Reportedly, EA Sports has paused production on a Fight Night revival that will resume development once the team at EA Canada wraps up EA Sports UFC 5. Since acquiring the UFC license in 2012, Electronic Arts has released four MMA fighting games, the most recent of which – the 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.

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According to a VGC report, EA recently greenlit a Fight Night game codenamed “Moneyball,” though its development has been placed on hold so developer EA Canada can prioritize EA Sports UFC 5. Sources familiar with the publisher’s operations told VGC the new UFC installment will launch in late 2022. The publication also obtained a studio-wide email sent EA Canada, which informed employees of UFC 5’s prioritization. Such a decision stems from efforts to ensure creative leads aren’t split between two 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 members 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.

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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

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Brianna Reeves
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A Senior Writer on Screen Rant’s Game News team, Brianna Reeves graduated from Sam Houston Statue University in 2018 with a Master of Arts in English Literature. Brianna’s enthusiasm for games dates back to Mortal Kombat Trilogy on PlayStation 1, along with classics like MediEvil, Syphon Filter, and THPS2. However, Red Dead Redemption reinvigorated her love for the medium; hopefully, that passion reflects in the work she has contributed to Comic Book Resources, PlayStation LifeStyle, GVMERS, and Screen Rant.

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