Dana Declares War, EA Responds, Online Media Not Buying Zuffa Spin
July 14, 2009
While much has been writtern about the EA MMA ban imposed by the UFC, Dana White made his first public comments about the new policy at the UFC 100 post fight press conference. White echoed the sentiments of UFC owner Lorenzo Fertitta in saying EA’s earlier rejection of the UFC was the impetus for the ban:
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. You told us you’d never be in business with us. They wouldn’t even take a meeting because mixed martial arts disgusted them. This wasn’t a real sport. Boy, that got over that real quick, didn’t they?…I’m not tap-dancing around this thing or whatever. I’m telling you straight-up, I’m at war with them right now. That’s how I look at it…You won’t be in the UFC
The reaction from the online community was one of skepticism. Steve Barry of MMA Convert gives voice to the disconnect some are seeing with White’s war declaration:
Now, who knows if EA did in fact tell the UFC to take a hike or not, they may very well have, but as MMAPayout points out, developing their own MMA game wasn’t something EA all of a sudden decided to do just because they sold a few million copies of THQ in the first few weeks of its release. They’ve at the very least been planning it for well over a year. In fact, I wrote a post about them being in talks with Randy Couture to appear in the game back on May 13, 2008.
No, it doesn’t really matter, but it’s just another example of Zuffa bending the truth to spin an ugly situation in their favor. And quite frankly, it’s starting to get old especially when the majority of people listening don’t know any better.
Ryan Harkness of Fightlinker gets to the heart of the matter, as well:
That’s what’s so fucked up about all this: Dana’s whole article is 100% FUCKING SPIN. And it’s pretty epic spin at that. Typically you don’t see this level outside of politics, which is what I find so creepy about the whole thing. Dana White is basically trying to create an emotional justifications for the dickish things the UFC is doing. And his giant posse of fans are lapping it up and repeating it, not even questioning why in this ‘war’ with Electronic Arts, the only ones taking any damage are fucking fighters.
Now some of you are still gonna side on the UFC with this one and say it’s their right … nay, solemn duty … to drive their enemies before them and hear the lamentations of their women. To you I ask if you’ve lost sight of what you’re cheering for: the success of the sport and the ability for it’s participants to make a fair wage or just the success of the UFC regardless of how petty and vindictive they become?
That last part was bolded for emphasis, in that that is the very essence of what is so distasteful about the UFC’s policy. The war declaration by Dana seeks to set them up as some kind of defender of the MMA faith, defining at their own discretion who the heretics and infidels are, and what holy wars should be waged. It is an appeal to those of blind and unquestioning faith, not reason.
EA Sports Chief Peter Moore made his first comment on the ban, noting that there is already a playable build of the EA MMA game, something not possible if they just green-lighted the concept in the wake of the THQ game’s success like Dana White claims:
I also saw the first playable of EA SPORTS MMA while at Tiburon last week. We have a team of incredibly hardcore fans of the sport working hard and making excellent progress, and we look forward to delivering a title in 2010 that we believe will provide further focus and attention to the sport.
I know there has been some recent discussion about EA SPORTS bringing a challenger to this sport. I love mixed martial arts, and we’ve been working on a game concept since I came to EA two years ago. I have great respect for the organizations and individuals that have invested in the sport’s growth over the past decade – so this is one that is near and dear to me and I’m excited to see such good progress to date. I trace my MMA video game roots back to my support of Crave’s UFC title on the Dreamcast in 2000, and have been a fan ever since. Our title will bring both innovation and further authenticity to mixed martial arts, not to mention a strong global publishing network that will help spread the sport’s popularity around the world.
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