EA has apparently greenlit a Fight Night revival, almost a decade after the last game in the franchise was released.
According to emails seen by VGC, the long-rumoured Fight Night revival has entered early development under the codename “Moneyball”.
As it stands, there are five games in the Fight Night franchise, starting with the original 2004 game and running through to 2011’s Fight Night Champion.
However, according to the same emails, the game is probably a few years away from release as EA Canada has decided to temporarily pause its core development in order to prioritise the next EA Sports UFC game, which is planned for late next year.
A lack of creative staff is being blamed for the production-hiatus. “We’re very excited about UFC 5 and we want to eliminate the split focus that several members of our leadership team have had in the past,” reads the email.
This isn’t the first time we’ve heard whispers of a Fight Night revival though. Earlier this year, three-time heavyweight champion boxer Lennox Lewis tweeted: “Just heard @EASPORTS is considering bring back #FightNight for XBox and PS5. What do you think about that? If they do, they better do me more justice on my fighter rating”
Just heard @EASPORTS is considering bring back #FightNight for XBox and PS5. What do you think about that? If they do, they better do me more justice on my fighter rating.
— Lennox Lewis, CBE, CM (@LennoxLewis) February 10, 2020
While last year, boxing promoter Eddie Hearn revealed he’d pitched a Fight Night revival to EA.
“It’s not just a virtual game, it’s much more complicated than that,” he explained during a livestream. “I had a call the other day with EA Sports and I keep telling them that every time I mention Fight Night on social media it goes mad. I think the return of EA Sports Fight Night would be huge.”
Last week, it was revealed that EA Sports believe that NFT and blockchain games are “the future of our industry”.
“I think that in the context of the games we create and the live services that we offer, collectible digital content is going to play a meaningful part in our future,” said CEO Andrew Wilson during an earnings call.
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