MMA Mania reports Dana White made an appearance at the annual video game convention, E3 Expo 2011, to announce a partnership with Microsoft in which the UFC PPVs will be available via XBox Live.
Although no date for the start of the service was announced, the price will be about the same as purchasing the PPV on TV: $60. The feature will be available only to those that subscribe to the XBox Live feature on the video game console. PS3 users are out of luck.
There are plans for additional features for those purchasing PPVs via XBox Live including weigh-ins and fights on demand.
Payout Perspective:
The partnership with Microsoft is another good sign of mainstream sponsor support for the UFC. Aligning itself with XBox also is another step for the UFC to have its PPVs on a separate platform other than cable. While the service is limited to XBox Live subscribers, its a step into what could be the future of UFC PPV.
Kinect for the kids, and UFC live for daddy this holiday it looks like
It looked pretty sweet in microsoft’s press conference but it’ll need to be to get buyers to fork over the extra money ($15 more than directv) . Forcing users to spend microsoft points might obscure the price differential but I doubt it will work as well at that price range as for other cheaper content on Xbox live.
Still, it’ll be sweet to see how much kinect functionality can be leveraged. If enough value is added to entice buyers to switch this could be a fantastic partnership.