“There is definitely going to be an EA Sports MMA 2.” That’s the big news coming out of yesterday’s Figure Four Daily interview with EA Sports MMA producer Jeff Ecker, who said that it’s not “if” but “when” there will be a sequel. So, hooray!
The interview touched on a number of things, including the game’s low sales (Ecker referred the hosts to the game’s marketing department if they wanted to discuss sales numbers), what it was like to work with all the different fighters (Bas Rutten is specifically praised for being awesome to work with), how fighters were selected (basically, they wanted to get the biggest names worldwide that they could), and what Paul Heyman brought to the game’s promotion (Ecker was amazed by Heyman’s creativity).
But yeah, by far the biggest news is that Ecker did, in fact, confirm that there will be a sequel.
That probably goes against conventional wisdom. We all know the game didn’t sell too well (which, again, speaks to the fact that Joe Public has no interest in MMA itself, but is only interested in UFC and its recognizable fighters; rabid MMA fans on Sherdog are not indicative of the average sports fan, for better or worse), so this should be a relief to the game’s fans.
I actually got the game this past week, during one of Amazon’s crazy Black Friday deals ($29.99!), and yeah, it’s quite good, at least on the surface. I can’t speak too much to the gameplay, but I would like to see next year the option of full ring entrances (who are Mayhem Miller and King Mo without their elaborate entrances?). Nothing annoyed me more in WWF No Mercy 10 years ago (yes, I hold grudges) than the shortened ring entrances—the entrance is part of the entire experience! Well, that and there was some pretty gnarly slowdown at times.
It also stinks that Sakuraba isn’t in the game, but that’s because of a licensing dispute. Unfortunate!
The interview itself is behind a paywall, so unless you’re willing to cough up $10 to hear it you’re out of luck.