Aside from stressing the amount of effort that EA Sports is currently putting into the development of upcoming grappler MMA, Peter Moore had nothing but kind words for the sport while talking to Fight Game host Mike Straka (full interview after the break). The real elephant in the room, though, is clearly the less than wonderful relationship between UFC prez Dana White and Moore's development studio -- but when he was asked about the subject, Moore shrugged it off. "Not really my issue ... Dana [White] had come to EA well before I was there."
In addition to doing his best to dodge any flame stoking on Straka's part, Moore pointed out the recent announcement of a newly signed Randy Couture to the game's roster, as well as Jay "The Thoroughbred" Hieron, bringing the MMA player count up to five if our math is right. Applying that same math to the amount of UFC fighters with jobs, the league seems to have just lost two more candidates. Can't we all just get along, fellas?
Dana White is an a-hole, he makes war with any company that he feels threatened by. The guy is a capitalistic beast and I doubt he has ever played nice with anyone.
He'll do anything to come out on top, I hope it comes back to get him. MMA will sell 100x better than that crap UFC Undisputed. I mean I know it will sell better because on the THQ forums before the release of UFC Undisputed 2009 the majority of the people were complaining that THQ were doing a horrible job and wished EA was working on the game instead.
You're an idiot who obviously hasn't played it. Or seen any reviews. Or know what the hell you are talking about.
EA had the chance to pick the game up, they laughed it out of the door saying that it wasn't a real sport. THQ pick it up, put real money into it, and its a MASSIVE hit. EA panic, and try to jump on the gravy train. Fuck em.
I still think it's kind of weak to bully your fighters into not being in a game. If anything he should be happy his fighters and his sport gets more exposure by having EA putting them in a game as well.
I think it's funny that he's yelling at EA for not having any love for the sport and that he has his heart in it, but at the same time he doesn't want to create extra exposure for "his love" by having EA take a shot at it as well. To me that seems a bit hypocritical, since clearly it's not a "love" issue anymore but money.
Dana White is pissed because he came to EA a while back about making a UFC game, EA turned him down saying it wasn't viable. When EA saw the success Dana had created they decided to make their own game. I know that's business, but the guy IS a redass.
EA had a chance to go with UFC... and now they are going to be playing catchup. Seriously. besides being able to do the super fight between Fedor and Couture... who else is there? and how much better of a game can MMA be?
The UFC is being a bunch of babies about this. I mean, i understand that they have their deal with THQ, but there's no need to be so aggressive about it.
This has absolutely nothing to do with money. A fighter signed with UFC would only be bringing more recognition to the sport if he were in the EA MMA video game, which would in turn bring more money back to UFC. Maybe the money wouldn't hit White's pocket directly, but it would eventually start flowing in his direction - maybe even more than he would be getting JUST from a UFC game. Granted, EA MMA alone will bring more attention to the sport and more money to UFC without featuring signed UFC fighters, but still... Right now, it's just some guy being a petty asshole.
I should clarify though, the business is sound (from what I understand at least) especially if fighters have contracts with UFC. He's trying to protect his business, but he is approaching the situation in the wrong way. It would be nice if he'd throw down some facts as opposed to making boorish threats.
I think the more MMA style games we can get the better. Competition is good. Otherwise we'll end up with a staleish monopoly like the Madden franchise over the NFL. I hope the MMA game is as good as UFC, then the developers can learn from each other and the next versions of these games will be even better!
