EA Gets UFC

Perhaps it was inevitable, what with EA holding the majority of sports-oriented licenses… today the mega-publisher announced that it has secured the license for the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) brand. The multi-year, multi-product partnership will allow EA exclusive rights to publish games bearing the UFC name.

According to the press release:

"We're thrilled to begin a long-term partnership that will bring fans incredibly authentic, and deeply connected, UFC videogames," said Andrew Wilson, EVP and Head of EA SPORTS. "UFC has become a global powerhouse because they have the world's best fighters, competing in the world's best mixed martial arts events. We share UFC's passion for the sport, and we look forward to capturing all of the intensity and excitement of the action with unique new game experiences across a range of platforms."

This, of course, means that we won’t be seeing any more UFC games from the previous license holder, THQ. The press release goes into some of those details, too:

"We'd like to thank THQ for creating some of the most critically-acclaimed sports videogames of this console generation, and we're excited to enter a new relationship with EA that will help us deepen our connection with fighting fans around the world," said UFC President Dana White. "There's no one better at creating authentic sports videogames than EA SPORTS, and we're excited to have a partner who shares our vision of deep, connected and multi-platform global game experiences."

"We've relished our relationship with UFC over the last several years and believe that the UFC gaming brand is in great shape. THQ's more focused strategy moving forward meant that transferring the license to EA made sense to all parties," said THQ CEO Brian Farrell. "We'd like to thank the UFC for their great support and partnership and wish EA all the best moving forward."