UFC Game Set for Spring 2009 Release

In the wake of the release of the blockbuster Grand Theft Auto IV, the media is buzzing with talk of video games. Those desperate for the launch of the Ultimate Fighting Championship game will have to wait a little longer.

The gaming site Gamespot report that the UFC game will not be hitting the shops until Spring 2009. The developer THQ will also be launching Legends of Wrestlemania to coincide with 25th annual pay-per-view in March 2009. Gamespot say that the UFC game will also be released to coincide with a major UFC event.

The UFC game has been in development for a while. Earlier this year, the British star Michael Bisping recalled his involvement in the development process on his blog at www.bisping.tv:

“I had only been in the country for an hour and the creators of the UFC game THQ, wanted me to go to there studio type thing to get straight to work. This I suppose was good as it gets it out the way, but I was knackered so I may have red eyes on the game. I had to do a full body scan for my image likeness, and then a facial scan, obviously for my facial likeness. In the face scan I had to hold several different emotions for about 30 seconds so they have different facial expressions. This sounds easy, but when you have to hold a huge smile for that long it starts to look very fake. When I looked at the results after I looked like some kind of freak but they assured me that it will look fine on the game (yeah right). Along with a happy expression I had to do confused, angry, sad, bored and surprised. Next it was to a photo shoot for the typical shots but then they wanted to shoot everything to the inside of my legs to my feet and my ass. The attention to detail on the fighter images is going to be amazing and the game is gonna look great. As long as they don’t use my freaky look from the facial scan.”

Gaming fans will hope that the long development period will result in an excellent product. It is not surprising that the UFC are looking to get into the gaming market. The young, male demographic of their audience is almost identical to the audience that consume video games.

There is certainly money to be made in the gaming sector. Gamespot report that THQ’s current wrestling title, SmackDown! vs. RAW has performed well as a November release each year (the 2008 edition has sold roughly 6 million copies worldwide so far, according to the publisher). The WWE brand peaks every year in March with the annual Wrestlemania pay-per-view event.

Although these figures look impressive, they pale into insignificance against the performance of Grand Theft Auto IV. Grand Theft Auto IV achieved more than US $500 million in sales in its first week of release, with cash registers ringing up $310 million on the opening day alone.

Publisher Take-Two Interactive Software, Inc. said on Wednesday that the video game has surpassed all-time entertainment records for Day 1 and Week 1 sales by dollar value. Released on April 29, Grand Theft Auto IV has sold some six million units around the world for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, with 3.6 million selling opening day. GTA IV actually features a cameo appearance from MMA legend Bas Rutten.