There has been little love from the gaming community for boxing fans in recent years. Bar a few tatty mobile games and the surprisingly fun simulation game Punch Club, boxing fans have been without a game since EA Sports moved on from their line of Fight Night games and onto creating mixed martial arts games under the UFC license.
Those crying out for a new boxing game received a small dose of joy when the final Fight Night game, Fight Night Champion (2010), was made backwards compatible earlier in 2018. Unfortunately, that’s all that there is to show for boxing’s showing in the console gaming world, and with the sport currently going through a massive renaissance phase, it seems like a new boxing game would be very popular.
Luckily, news has emerged of a developer creating a brand new boxing game with the intent of appeasing the masses who continually fill the EA message boards, stating their desire for a new boxing game.
Is EA not doing another Fight Night?
Source: Xbox, via Twitter
It seems like EA Sports hung up their gloves with Fight Night Champion in 2010, choosing to pursue the route of making UFC games instead. Combat sports website fightful.com records a source who reports EA flip-flopping, somewhat, as to why there hasn’t been a boxing game in so long.
They state that the initial response as to why EA hasn’t created another boxing game was that they believed that the boxing market wasn’t strong enough for them to make UFC and boxing games. Then, when it was shown that Fight Night Champion sold nearly 300,000 more copies than either UFC or UFC 2 – and currently 900,000 more than UFC 3 according to vgchartz.com – EA then stated that it’s simply more difficult to get a license for each boxer as opposed to governing body which has the license to all fighters, as is the case with the UFC.
It seems as though EA doesn’t have any interest in making another boxing game, but perhaps a rival company will either create one themselves, or cause enough noise that EA gets one in the works – or, most likely, buys the company.
Round4Round Boxing
Source: Jamie Docherty, via Twitter
UK games developer Falcon Interactive have announced that they currently have a boxing game in development that features real boxers, real commentators, and real ring girls. Better still: it’s being made for Xbox One, PS4, and the PC, according to psu.com. Still in its early stages, a few starting graphics have been revealed as well as some of the boxers who are already on board.
The boxing scene is buzzing right now, with a huge number of big-name boxers putting their records on the line against other top opponents. The excitement for boxing goes far deeper than the heralded heavyweight division too, with the likes of Errol Spence Jr. at -500 to beat Miguel Garcia at moplay.co.uk and Manny Pacquiao still going at -263 to beat Adrien Broner, so the roster that Round4Round Boxing has already established has the makings of a vast and exciting game that reflects the depth of boxing right now.
So far, boxers of the past and present including Henry Armstrong, DeMarcus Corley, Keyshawn Davis, Gerald McClellan, Hector Camacho Jr, Hector Camacho Sr, Andy Ruiz, Willie Monroe Jr., Amir Mansour, Eric ‘Butterbean’ Esch’, and Lucas Browne are part of the 40-strong and ever-growing list of fighters in the game. Ring girl Ali Drew is also going to be in the game.
As for the game, it’s an ambitious project which will eventually feature all of the weight classes, a spectator mode, realistic and life-like graphics, a unique soundtrack, a single player mode, a world championship mode, amateur championships, a historic mode, and even more to come.
If all goes to plan, Falcon Interactive will deliver the expansive boxing game that fans have craved for close to a decade.
