EA passed on UFC game - Report

alkaline_DnB you're right and you're wrong. dana is protecting his franchise's future, he's taking one step ahead of EA, and he can do so if he wants. The funny part here is that if you took out Dana's name and replaced it with EA & added Madden in there you'd wind up with a situation where a lot of people would disagree with you on that. alkaline_DnB since EA owns the NFL rights. EA does own the exclusive rights to use NFL and it all it's employees,teams,logos etc in their games But like I said before EA nor the NFL (who'd have the authority to actually do this) don't have a mandate that states that players must sign a contract that allows their likeliness to be used in a Madden game under the threat of being cut like Dana does with any of his fighters who choose not to appear in THQ's UFC games. Nor do they have a mandate that states individuals not immediately under contract with the NFL will be banned from working within the company should they allow their likeliness to be used in other competing games which Dana is trying to do with fighters not under contract with the UFC. This is really for people who keep incorrectly stating that Dana is doing exactly to EA what EA did to companies like 2K. EA's deal with the NFL didn't have the potential to get someone blacklisted from a place of employment which is definitely a whole lot worser than 2K games not being able to make football games with current NFL players,real teams,real stadiums etc.

@ criminal-b: Pride is defunct, and Zuffa owns the remnants.

@criminal-B LOL They can't. The UFC bought out Pride awhile ago. Maybe Dream, Affliction, K-1 or Strikeforce.

You go Dana lol. Dumbass arrogant EA

Take it how you want it, but sometimes petty payback is a wonderful thing to see in motion. Now EA has to make the best MMA game possible, and THQ has to make UFC 2010 the ultimate fighting game to own (NPI).

Dana White has done to EA, what EA has done to other companies. You reap what you sow. lol.

good 4 THQ the spoiled me with wcw revenge and wwF wrestlemania back in the day and i'm glad they made a hit! Competition means better games to me!

@FarmFreshDX He's not a "businessman" in a traditional sense, so I wouldn't expect him to act like one. Dropping the "F-bomb" is probably natural to him and he would probably drop the F-bomb talking to his Mom, let alone some guy from a fan site. Also, how I see it is EA missed the gravy train with biscuit wheels by passing up on a licensed MMA game. THQ is now reaping the benefits of 2 million copies sold. EA knew they couldn't go back to Dana and ask for forgiveness for passing up a UFC game, so they were planning the next best thing. . . .be his competition. That got shut down awfully quick. It's just another case of EA being EA. Too bad. I was really starting to like them with games like Dead Space and Mirror's Edge. Finally taking the chance on new IPs instead of riding the sequel train.

White's a little harsh but it was a bad move on EA's part, I can understand why he would be upset.

First off, EA is right. MMA and Boxing are not truly sports. MMA less so, since you'd be arrested for doing any of the stuff if it weren't for the immunity that somehow encloses the ring. Second, EA has a right to say whether or not they want to do a game, and I severely doubt EA is at all sorry they didn't. They have plenty of money to print with Madden and others. Third, dropping the F-bomb in an interview (especially a formal one) makes you look so ridiculously unprofessional it hurts. Dana White just sounds like a bitter jerk. Hardly professional. It just reinforces the (unfair) stereotype of the UFC and its watchers.

What a dumb move on EA's part, I'm with White screw em.

bottom line, is that he's not going to be underhanded by EA trying to capitalize on the sports' popularity after Dana put it on the map. and any fighter who wants to sell out and underhand Dana is going to be banned. he's putting everyone in their place and i don't blame him.

good for white screw EA

kyuubi_vegetto you're right and you're wrong. dana is protecting his franchise's future, he's taking one step ahead of EA, and he can do so if he wants. other company's can make a football game using college players right now...they don't, but they could, but once those college players get drafted into the NFL, they're not allowed to be featured in another company's football game again, since EA owns the NFL rights. Dana's just taking a step ahead and protecting his investment, since he still does have authority. If fighter's aren't good enough to be in the UFC or have no interest in signing with the UFC, then by all means, that's their choice to be in EA's game.

i recon there just gonna approach pride about a mma game

@rcastoro lets not get carried away. the game is unreal, I love it. But it's far from perfect. To say it will always be the best MMA game, i guarantee ufc 2010 is going to be better.

EA disrespected them i see.Good. I hope they stick to their convictions. Who doesn't hate EA. I'm still lamenting over their acquisition of Bioware. I always purchased Bioware games, and never purchased EA games..hate EA...what a dilemma.

if theres one thing ive learned over the years watching UFC and hearing dana white is YOU dont CROSS him EVER. Hes a vicious business man and he IS MMA. There might be other mma championships to fight in, but UFC is the top. EA just pissed off the boss and he threw it back in there faces.

Lol at EA. Whoopies, they realized a mistake, lightbulb, but too late.

Wow! Finally a sport EA won't monopolize. Yes I'm still bitter about the ESPN NFL 2K series. lol

I don't flat out believe this guy but I sure do not like EA...or Activision. I am going to go and buy the UFC game today. I have never even watched a UFC match...not one. I hate EA so much though I am going to get this game. Make that 2 000 001 units.

rcastoro Dana white turned, after he bought UFC, turned up the marketing and made this sport what it is today, if you ask me, Dana White should have the Final Say on WHO, WHY, and WHEN should make MMA Games, and should get 80% of the profits. I know there's such a thing as opinion but damn is this just dumb. And I still find it funny people are still justifying this even when these same people complain about EA's exclusivity deal preventing 2k games from making sub-par games featuring the NFL & NCAA to compete with EA's The Irony. alkaline_DnB are you guys stupid or what? EA does the same **** with the NFL No they do not Dana's telling fighters who aren't under contract with his company (like Fedor) that if they agree to appear in EA's game they won't work in his company ever. The difference between Dana & The NFL (not EA) Is that Dana forces his fighters to sign contracts allowing their likeliness to be used under the threat of not fighting in his company, he actually fired a guy originally because he wouldn't sign a contract to appear in Undisputed. I haven't heard of the NFL doing anything like this with regards to their athlete's who choose not to appear in EA's video games. Kiaininja you can still make a mma game with the EliteXC and Bodog Fight. EliteXC went out of business and I don't think anyone watches let alone cares about BodogFight even if they did and EA decided to make an MMA featuring Bodog Dana would try to stick his bald head in that deal too.

@xtoperchris No you wouldn't have just one company unless that one company does it better then everyone else which is what Dana's goal is. Shouldn't everyone's goal in whatever they are doing in life be to be the best they can be and hopefully be better and beat the rest of the people doing it? All I'm saying is that if all of the CEO's were concentrating on making their product the best instead of what lines their pockets the most it would be a better world. And yes Dana pulls in alot of money, so what, he has earned it. You have to be shrewd in the business he is in, any other way he would get pummeled.

EA all they care is just money they don't care what others think their sport games suck already like Madden and NBA i don't get why they still keep making them, and i wont buy any of EA games they try to much to make cash. And i wont even buy the EA mma game , it going to suck because they wont have any of the good fighters.

Listen, we only heard Dana's side but if he is speaking the truth, then EA won't have any luck getting any named wrestlers for their game...THQ did a great job with the game, they deserve credit.

Forget EA, man. THQ and UFC did a fantastic job and I won't put my money down on an EA MMA game for the sheer fact that they were too good for MMA before they realized it would make money.

unfortunately citan dana white is a shrewd business man who gobbled up the competition and is able to force fighters to sign really crappy contracts. but in all honesty EA games has done this same thing for years just in the video game biz. ya sure its not as bad as it is in MMA but the video game world is alot larger but still EA is truly the only real mega developer/publisher. now im not saying that one is better then the other im just saying that we should hate both equally as well. down with the tyranny of dana white. an end to the reign of EA games...VIVA LA REVOLUTION!!!!

Gotta take a bit of exception to Citan Uzuki's comments here. True, UFC 100 easily had over 1 million PPV buys...and plenty of live tickets were sold as well. All that money doesn't just go to Dana White. He has to pay not only the fighters, but think about all the other expenses associated with it. Venue, staff, travel, everything that goes into making an event like that happen. True, $400K is a little on the low end to pay the fighters but still, don't make it sound like all the money from PPV and ticket sales is going straight into Dana's pocket.

EA is just being a sour loosers for droping the ball on not picking up UFC when it was offerd to them. Wake up EA and stop this BS crybabies, you can still make a mma game with the EliteXC and Bodog Fight.

i just think it's funny that people are saying Dana is being selfish and that EA not being able to create an mma gane with ufc fighters is bad for gaming and creates no competition or room for improvement, etc. are you guys stupid or what? EA does the same **** with the NFL and now you're defending them. EA is just as greedy if not more so than Dana White, and I'm glad that he's sticking it to them like they did to other developers who can't use the official NFL likeness in their football games...because their games don't sell and EA's does. Yes, Dana White is a greedy man, but he's taking down another greedy company so I applaud him.

Dana White is an uneducated bully. I have no doubt he went to EA about making a game but I really doubt the comments he claims were made were actually made. If anything they probably turned him down because they already had a MMA game planned that didn't require shelling over large royalties to the UFC. I love the UFC but personally hate Dana White he is a rat and a scam artist who uses his great lineup of talent to fill his own pockets and throws them away when they pass their prime. Did you know that in UFC 100(a ppv that easily sold over 1 million buy ins) the highest paid fighter got $400,000 I mean thats a nice paycheck but the fighters are what sells the ppv and tickets yet the UFC/DAna White is taking in the majority of profits. Dana White is good at marketing but his business ethics stink and his behaviour will eventually catch up with him.

Sounds like Dana could afford to lay off that juice, lol... chillax, bro!

clearly EA sports is a money hungry business. This Dana White guy does seem a little too angry tho. furthermore he said "We put our asses on the line, THQ and the UFC, to make a video-game deal in the worst economy in the world." BOGUS.. The U.S. is in a recession but American's still have a lot A LOT of money compared to other countries. @pungaboy (since everyone else is callin him out) exclusive rights is acquiring a videogame monopoly. we cannot be mad at the NFL to sell their rights (what do they care?). but we can be mad at EA for avoiding to compete fair and square on the basis of gameplay and such. Who wants a football game with a fake roster? EA knows a certain market will always buy their game purely based on the fact that NFL teams logos and players are all in it... its a cheap tactic and shows poor ethics

@ pungaboy let me rephrase your last line.Business is business, and I don't hold it against Dana White for protecting his investment.It works both ways EA fan boy.

@ pungaboy Why would Dana White make this up? Yes, he is a trash talker, but he is a smart businessman. How long has EA been around? And how long has Dana White been president of the UFC? Much longer than 2 years right? EA probably said "mma wasn't a sport" back before UFC and mma really took off, so Dana White gave them the cold shoulder once it got bigger.

@ pungaboy "Business is business, and I don't hold it against EA for protecting their investment." but you seem to hold it against Dana White....yeah. okay.

Another thing, If Dana cares for the sport, he won't do this ban thingy so that MMA fighters from different mma org could be seen in a fight at least in a game. That means more publicity for some underground fighters. And that's better for the MMA industry.

Lets not forget that they will not only be trying to make another MMA game but they will be copying from the THQ game.THQ had to start from scratch and now EA wants to swoop in and make a game based on the design of THQs work.

I think Dana White is making this stuff up. Peter Moore just spoke in an interview that EA has been developing MMA since he joined the company - 2 years ago. I highly doubt that EA would be making comments about UFC not being a real sport while they HAD AN MMA GAME IN PRODUCTION. Dana White has no credibility. He is a greedy bloodsucker that bullies and strongarms his greatest assets into signing away their image rights and carreers so the league management can keep the money for themselves. It's just a matter of time until the fighters wise up and unionize themselves (ala NFLPA) and Dana's monopoly on MMA gets turned on it's ear. Also, everybody gets pissed at EA for locking up the rights to NFL football and how that is anti-competetive and bad for the consumer. Everybody forgets that it was the NFL that was selling the exclusive rights! If EA hadn't bought them, then Take 2 would have, and people would have been pissed at Take 2. Business is business, and I don't hold it against EA for protecting their investment.

@ alz619 - brock is heavyweight champ!!! u think hes gonna kill of his career to be in a game :S sadly mistaken

@ btarheel646 Yes he cares for the sport. He has done a lot to make it famous, profitable and that means money. With this issue, he shows that he cares for his ego. He was rejected before, and now making a sweet revenge against EA because they're making an MMA game that could possibly be better than ufc undisputed. Preventing a competition. If all businessmen would be like this, then they will do anything to prevent competition and how's that good for business and the world? Only one company to dominate the market? I couldn't live in that world.

Good on Dana White he has to do what ever he can to not get EA to do a MMA game. If the fighters want a career in MMA then they want to be in the UFC, EA isn't worth wasting ya career. All the best fighters are in UFC so even if EA did make one and it was better than THQ ppl wont buy it cuz no big named fighters will be in it. GO ON DANA!!!!

Dana White Bought the UFC From the Gracies WAY back when there were NO followers of the sport, local television said it was too much of a barbaric sport to be shown on Cable, and sales were LOW. Dana white turned, after he bought UFC, turned up the marketing and made this sport what it is today, if you ask me, Dana White should have the Final Say on WHO, WHY, and WHEN should make MMA Games, and should get 80% of the profits. UFC Undisputed is and always will be the best MMA Game there is, EA's attempt to create a MMA game that's already perfect? You can't beat perfect, but you can try... And fail.

As much as I would love to see what ea would do with an mma game, I completely understand what Dana White is saying as far as "screw ea" for bad mouthing mma as a sport. However I don't agree with him telling fighters they'll be banned from the ufc if they sign with ea. This is between Dana White and EA, the fighters have nothing to do with it. But everyone should just chill because if there is one thing Dana white loves more than being a jerk, it's Money, and I have a feeling Dana may have to eat his words and reconsider. It would be better for everyone if he did, himself included. If he plays his cards right he could have two Ufc games on the market instead of one.

If they really mocked his sport at EA.I could see why he would be upset and not want them to make any money off of MMA.Lets not forget the EA is all about the Monopoly in gaming before you blame THQ and UFC for wanting the same thing.Oh yeah don't forget he asked them first and I know they would be doing the same thing if they had made it.If you like the guy or not he has help this sport become what it is.He may rub you the wrong way but he knows what he is doing.

DANA'S JUST SCARED THAT EA WILL DO THE MMA BETTER IN A VIDEOGAME THEN THQ...EA IS THE BEST COMPANY GAMEWISE AND HE KNOWS IT..HE'S AFRAID BECAUSE EA WILL DESTORY THQ'S GAME...ESPECIALLY WITH FIGHT NIGHT'S NEW ENGINE?WOW I CANT WAIT..LET'S GO EA..YOU STILL GOT FEDOR N MANY OTHERS!!!!

Wow Dana White becoming the new Vince McMahon. It's like when vince was cutting wrestlers from the Legends of Wrestlemania games for doing the slightest bad thing. Now White bans you from the UFC if you join EA's MMA game. I hope Lesnar, Mir and Coture all join.

Dana White cares for is his ego, his only point is that ea once said they don't care about mma. And now ea is making an MMA game, not UFC alone, then there goes Dana making this threat to mma fighters banned from ufc if they show up in the ea mma. That's pathetic. He wants total control of mma fighters and he thinks that ufc is what matters to all mma fighters. Dana is being selfish, preventing a possible good MMA game to compete with ufc undisputed. That's bad for gamers. No competition = less improvement.

Maybe we should hear the other side of the story first before jumping to conclusions, as many here are doing. Dana White is known for blowing things out of proportion in order to promote the UFC.

FNR4=Boxing UFC=not boxing