THQ locks UFC exclusivity through 2018

Hot on the heels of its announcement of a new Montreal studio, THQ this morning revealed it has locked down rights to develop and publish games based on the Ultimate Fighting Championship brand through 2018. The agreement with UFC's parent company, Zuffa LLC, is wide in scope, covering games for all current- and next-generation consoles, as well as all handhelds, the PC, the iPhone, and iPad. The deal also covers any online games.

"THQ has delivered the quality demanded by UFC and its fans with the first two Undisputed games, and we are about to broaden the UFC brand experience among gaming fans through social and mobile apps," said Dana White, UFC president. What exactly the social applications would be were not revealed.

The THQ/UFC deal comes just a few months after UFC 2010 Undisputed fell short of expectations. Though the game shipped 2.7 million units for the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3, it still lagged behind the 3.5 million units UFC 2009 Undisputed sold through. As a result, THQ decided to expand the window between games in the series, with the next installment expected in fall 2011; UFC 2010 Undisputed launched on the Xbox 360 and PS3 this May. A motion-sensing UFC workout game, UFC Trainer, is due out in January for the Wii, PlayStation Move, and Xbox 360's Kinect.

For more on UFC 2010 Undisputed, read GameSpot's full review.