14 DAY TRIAL // Sports games have enjoyed a huge amount of popularity as most of the sports fans are also gamers, and thus will be more than willing to fork out money in order to lead their favorite team or athlete to victory, even if it is just a virtual one.
One game that has certainly been played quite a lot, which is highlighted by sales figures, was THQ's UFC 2009: Undisputed, which took mixed martial arts to a whole new level through gameplay and thanks to the exclusive license that the video game publisher has with the prestigious fighting competition.
Speaking at the Pacific Crest Securities Technology Leadership Forum, THQ's Paul Pucino was asked just how he felt about the competitors that will soon emerge in this particular area of sports games, particularly the attempt of Arch rival EA to “muscle in” with its EA Sports MMA, which is currently in development and set to arrive next year.
“There's one premiere league here, and it's the UFC,” Pucino said, revealing that, thanks to the brand notoriety of UFC, the game had a lot of potential fans eager to buy it. “We have the octagon, and we have the announcers. We'd rather be in our position than any other position.”
He also said that the big numbers of the recent title, which managed to sell well over 2 million copies since its launch, will certainly grow in the next few years, as 75% of the profit came from the United States, meaning that, at least in Europe, the sport, and the game alongside it, have a lot of growing to do.
Don't forget that THQ also revealed a few weeks ago how it planned to expand its UFC franchise onto other platforms, not only the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, in order to maximize profits even more. Let's see just what EA will have to say about this.