EA Sports to announce latest "EA Sports MMA" videogame news on Saturday
EA Sports, which will soon launch an MMA videogame to rival THQ and the UFC's popular and successful "UFC Undisputed" franchise, is holding a press conference this Saturday, Aug. 15, company officials recently announced.
Perhaps not coincidentally, the presser takes place in San Jose, Calif., the same city that hosts Saturday's Showtime-televised "Strikeforce: Carano vs. Cyborg" event.
Officials have promised to announce the addition of an "MMA icon" to the game's roster. Two possible options? Fedor Emelianenko (a recent Strikeforce signee who already announced he'll "headline" the game) or Randy Couture.
Couture, a longtime UFC fighter and current heavyweight contender, signed with EA Sports in 2008 while embroiled in a contract dispute with the UFC.
UFC president Dana White has since said, rather definitively, that anyone who signs to appear in the game will not be signed to a UFC contract. (Frank Trigg, who's expected to appear in the game, was signed by the UFC prior to White's edict.)
Also expected to appear in the game are fighters such as Jay Hieron (who fights Jesse Taylor at this weekend's Strikeforce) event, Gegard Mousasi and Strikeforce world light heavyweight champion Renato "Babalu" Sobral (who fight each other at the event), Frank Shamrock, Tim Sylvia and others.
As MMAjunkie.com (
www.mmajunkie.com) reported in July, White said his harsh reaction to the EA Sports' title resulted from the company's initial refusal to do an MMA game.
"EA Sports told us, 'You're not a real sport,'" White said. "'We wouldn't touch this thing. We want nothing to do with this.'"
With EA Sports passing on the rights to the UFC's videogame license, rival software company THQ later secured the deal. The company's first effort, "UFC Undisputed 2009," has shipped approximately two million units since its May release and has earned rave reviews.
"We put our asses on the line, THQ and the UFC, to make a videogame deal in the worst economy in the world," White said. "We go out there and do this thing, and it's successful, and now [expletive] EA Sports wants to do a video game. Really? That's not what you told us a year-and-a-half ago."
MMAjunkie.com previously contacted EA Sports for comment but instead was pointed to a blog post from company president Peter Moore. Moore didn't address White but said EA Sports began working on an MMA title two years ago, contradicting the UFC executive's time table.
"I trace my MMA videogame roots back to my support of Crave's UFC title on the Dreamcast in 2000, and have been a fan ever since," Moore wrote.
Saturday's announcement could be simple confirmation of Emelianenko's involvement, a shot at the UFC by announcing Couture's participation, or it could be something entirely different. Regardless, stay tuned to MMAjunkie.com on Saturday for full coverage of the announcement and Saturday's "Carano vs. Cyborg" event.