EA MMA = fail

http://www.bloodyelbow.com/2010/10/25/1773372/analyst-predicts-ea-sports-will-drop-mma-market

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According to Doug Creutz from Cowen & Company:
"EA's recently released 'MMA' appears to be more or less DOA (dead on arrival) at retail, while UFC recently announced an extension of its license with THQ, likely putting an end to EA's efforts to expand into the mixed martial arts genre."

While Creutz's comments regarding the game's retail performance are likely specific to the US market, EA Sports MMA made a disappointing start in the UK, debuting at No.23 this week.

Not surprised by the poor UK sales, the UFC is the only MMA promotion that has a network deal here.

Too bad, it is more fun to play.

GDPofDRC wrote:

Too bad, it is more fun to play.

Is that before or after the automatic deduction that it would be?

i asked some guys at the game store how it was selling, they said it wasnt really selling at all

It's strange Irony. EA has made crap games for a while that sold well based off the league logo on the box. Now they make a more fun MMA game but there are already two UFC MMA games out with the logo making the sales.

i tried the demo and didnt like it, something about getting taken down after every punch got to me...

I still have not played it. I heard that 2010 didnt sell nearly as well as 2009. Maybe the lack of brand and name recognition and the fact that MMA games have sucked hurt this.

They didnt promote it much. It seems only Strikeforce promoted the fuckin thing.

EA sports should have been more interested in making the best MMA game ever, instead of the one they could get on the market the quickest. But that seems to be EA's problem of late ith a lot of things. All my friends said the game sucked!

This game is way better than 2009 and pretty good vs 2010. I really like it and if this is the only one I'll be super pissed. Great game. I like both Undisputeds too.

Is this supposed to be considered a news article?

No comment from EA or SF. No sales comparison to other fight game releases. And I had to look up on google the one source they actually did mention to have any clue who Cowen and Company was. not sure if they are a legit source of info or not, but Im pretty sure they have no platform to make this statement "likely putting an end to EA's efforts to expand into the mixed martial arts genre."

yeah sine MMA is the fastest growing sport in the world EA is going to bail after one effort.

Sales have been terrible. MMA isn't big enough yet to the point where people are going to go out and buy a game that features no UFC fighters

bobbitt15 wrote:

Sales have been terrible. MMA isn't big enough yet to the point where people are going to go out and buy a game that features no UFC fighters

Maybe, but I don't see any evidence in that article aside from a quote from some guy from some company I've never heard of, and which to my knowledge has no connection to the game, to support your argument.

I'm not really attempting to make an argument, I don't care either way. Just thought this was interesting and IMO UFC is obviously still >> MMA so I couldn't see something like this selling big. Strikeforce would have to be way bigger

It's a bad market for EA MMA. The game isn't bad, it's fun.

Problem, UFC 2009, but more importantly 2010. MMA EA would of sold as many as 2010 had it come out before. Even with 2010 being limited to just UFC fighters it still saturated the market in the MMA genre. Few are gonna wanna own both at the same time.

Also Black ops comes out a month after EA, most little piggys are saving up for that.

And the playing community is wrapped up hard in a handful of games right now. 3 CoD games, Halo's, and football and basketball. EA could be another good game that gets largely blown over because of the other monsters already out. But I will be buying it at around cristmas for cheap at least.

I got the game last night. And I'm lovin it so far. I haven't had time to play it enough to say whether or not I think it's better than ufc 2010 overall yet though. But here's a few things I like

1. Presentation is great. With lots of deferent arenas to fight in with the option of ring or cage, and the entrances and beginnings of fights very depending on the venue. The options for deferent rules(3-5min rounds, 2 rounds 10mins-5mins, 1 round 20mins) is a plus for me.

2. The submission system is without a doubt imo better than the ufc games. Finally I can be a bjj guy in a career without just mounting and gnping every opponent, I can actually sub them.

3. I don't know about you guys but I hate how throwing a jab in the ufc games is pretty pointless, I feel like in the ufc games no matter what all my standup has to be setup with the leg kicks, even if I'm playing as a boxer who wouldn't throw a leg kick. But in EA MMA the jab is effective and very useful

I haven't done the career mode yet, it's much much easier then the UFC game. I don't like it.

http://mmapayout.com/2010/10/ea-sports-mma-addresses-one-and-done-rumors/EA Sports MMA Addresses “One-and-Done” Rumors

October 27, 2010

Rumors have been floating around for the past couple of days involving the recently released EA Sports MMA title being “one-and-done” and “dead on arrival” according to Cowen & Company analyst Doug Creutz, but when MMAPayout reached out to EA Sports marketing manager Randy Chase, he told us that the report is a bit premature.

The video gaming website ComputerAndVideoGames was the first to report Crutz analysis of EA Sports MMA, which was then picked up by many MMA websites, eventually reaching ESPN’s MMA blog and other big name online media. Crutz went on to say in his report:

“EA’s recently released ‘MMA’ appears to be more or less DOA at retail, while UFC recently announced an extension of its license with THQ, likely putting an end to EA’s efforts to expand into the mixed martial arts genre,” the analyst said in a research note this morning.

The ComputerAndVideoGames article also goes on to note that EA Sports MMA debuted at No. 23 this week, just edging out another competitor which was released on the same day, Activision’s DJ Hero 2 which debuted at #25. The key factor for the disappointing debut for both titles was the the same week release of Fallout: New Vegas, which finished #1 on the chart and was highly anticipated by many video game enthusiasts.

EA Sports released the following statement regarding the rumors:

“EA SPORTS MMA has been in stores for less than a week and it has been well received by critics and consumers for bringing innovation to the genre. We are confident the game will connect with fight fans.”


Contrary to what Crutz said on his report, PastaPadre, a well known sports video gaming news and analysis website within the industry, believes there is a future for EA Sports MMA.

Just one week after the release of EA Sports MMA there are analysts predicting that the company will cease making an MMA game going forward. Sales are reportedly soft and with THQ locking up the UFC license through 2018 the thought is being perpetuated that there is no room to grow and pushing forward would prove futile. That really isn’t the case however and EA is not likely to abandon a growing sport when they have now established themselves as players in the market even as that comes from an underdog role.

Keep in mind these are the same analysts who just recently discussed poor sales coming in for Madden 11 only to have the official sales numbers release and the game show a 12% year over year increase. Basically take anything an analyst says with a grain of salt because they are not tied into the goings on of the sports gaming world and may not be even using official data. They are just looking at numbers and not taking into consideration the context of them.


Payout Perspective:

The low initial sales was something that MMAPayout noted in the EA MMA perspective write-up, and something that should be expected as realistic expectations for this title release. We also mentioned that the game was well received with good scores from respected video game websites/publishers and also garnered positive user feedback.

As PastaPadre points out, EA went into this project with full knowledge of being the underdog in the market and had realistic sale expectations for sales. The key here, if they choose to continue the franchise in 2012, is to establish the base for an MMA franchise that can be released on alternating years with their Fight Night boxing franchise. Though we must point out, releasing the game on the same week as highly anticipated Fallout: New Vegas was released was a big mistake (just as THQ did with releasing UFC Undisputed 2010 in the same week as Red Dead Revolver) and affected their sales.

Despite the low sales this year for both MMA franchises, there is no doubt that the MMA market is still growing and is predicted to keep growing in the next several years, so it is well worth their while to stay in the market. There is no doubt that the UFC brand creates an almost impossible hurdle for EA as they continue to dominate the market, but they also don’t have the pressures of having high licensing costs attached to the game, which ultimately lowers the expectations of the game. Only time will tell what EA decides to do with the franchise, but I believe it is just too early to make decision’s of this magnitude based on the current conditions. When MMAPayout asked EA Sports if there were any existing plans for a 2012 release, they said we were already working on it.