UFC Undisputed 2010: Payout Review

Welcome to the Payout Review! This week we’ll be taking a look at the latest UFC video game made by developer THQ entitled UFC Undisputed 2010 and produced for the Xbox 360 and PS3 consoles.

Before we begin, I want to disclose that THQ sent me a copy of the game for product review purposes. However, I obviously have free reign to critique the game as I see fit.

Payout Review:

I’m not a gaming expert – that’s not what any of you visit the website for – so I’ll try to avoid the standard game review template and just cut straight to what I did and didn’t like from a business perspective.

The Good

Overall, I had a lot of fun playing the game. The added elements of swaying, cage play, and improved ground elements really added to the authenticity of the game, which very much gave it the ability to put me on the edge of my seat as I battled furiously to defeat an opponent. I also felt as though the game got a much needed face lift in terms of presentation: the menus were straight forward, the weigh-ins and pre-fight videos were pretty cool, and it definitely felt like a real UFC event in many ways. This is part of what makes the game so appealing and such a great teaching/marketing tool for the UFC.

The Average

I spent the majority of my time playing with the career mode. I’m sure you’ve all heard about how this year’s career mode starts your fighter off at the WFA and that was a cool twist. I used the first few fights to simply experiment with fighting styles and optimal training regimens, but I will admit to getting confused at certain points: it wasn’t super clear from the outset as to how I should go about training my fighter and I felt as though I lost a lot of opportunities to build skills early.

The progression through the game is pretty solid and realistic: you start off fighting lower tier fighters on lower tier cards and just work your way up by winning. However, after I got the hang of everything and made it into the UFC, it all became pretty monotonous: train, rest, sparring, rest, camp invite, rest, gameplan, fight, respect/disrespect opponent, the same conversations with Rogan, etc. I also found myself fighting the same guys over and over again once I was at the top of the division; Jon Fitch 6x, Paul Thiago 4x, Thiago Alves 4x, Dustin Hazelett 3x.

In fact, I think this is probably going to be THQ’s biggest challenge moving forward: how does it take career mode – ostensibly the part of the game that people spend the most amount of time with – and make it more interesting and dynamic without taking the focus off the fight? I’ll give THQ a pass on the repetition and monotony this year, but they’ll definitely need to step up and create a more diverse playing experience next year.

The Bad

The AI is nothing to write home about and is something that really detracted from the authenticity of the game. Here you had all these new gameplay elements and presentation features, but none of the fighters really fought like they would in the Octagon. Many fans complained about Lyoto Machida’s frequent takedowns and grappling in the demo, and I experienced similar issues at WW with guys like Thiago Alves.

However, it’s probably only something you notice after you’ve spent many hours with the game – the first 10-20 matches you’re so enthralled that it doesn’t really matter. I’m not sure how much the casual fan would really notice (hardcore MMA fans, on the other hand, are a different story).

Interesting Observations

• Fighters always train at a UFC Gym in career mode. Great plug for what may end up being another significant revenue stream for the UFC, but I’m wondering why they didn’t follow up on the idea with some sort of explanation. At the very least, they ought to throw a small card advertisement into each of the game cases next year that provides information on UFC Gyms and drives home the message.

• Harley Davidson was missing as a sponsor in this year’s game.

• Silver Star and Ecko Ultd. had logo placement on the canvas right alongside Tapout, which isn’t something I’d be too thrilled about if I’m Tapout. It sort of begs the question, how far due category sponsorship rights extend (a question even more relevant given the veritable ambush marketing playground that is the UFC Octagon).

Things to Improve

• It certainly didn’t feel like the game was “watching” me. I didn’t notice any change in opponent game plans or fighter commentary (aside from a few short clips) and absolutely nothing happened outside of the fights that would indicate the game treated me any differently as a champ than it did a normal fighter. By the end of my career, I’d one 25+ fights in a row, moved up a weight class, defended my belt countless times, and won a champion vs. champion bout…all to which I’d really never have been the wiser had I relied on game commentary, fighter interviews, e-mails, etc.

• I can’t comment on the online play, but the reports of discontent are pretty ubiquitous. Online play, much the same as career play, is great for adding or extending to the playable life of the game. In fact, many gamers only play online these days, which only increases the importance of ironing out online play.

• The AI is obviously another big concern, but I tend to think THQ is aware of this. The game is still relatively young compared to other sports franchises like NHL or Madden and it’ll be very interesting to see where this game takes us in the next few years.

Payout Perspective:

I’ve talked at length about how important this video game is to the UFC: it’s a teaching tool for the sport, a marketing tool for the brand, and an additional revenue stream for the organization. Released on May 25th, the game also played a vital role in the build towards UFC 114, which is likely to become the highest grossing non-title PPV fight in UFC history.

However, we are starting to hear reports that the game isn’t selling as well as expected. Moreover, the game has experienced some technical issues – particularly with the online modes – that have fans up in arms. There’s now word that a patch is forthcoming to resolve these issues.

I never doubted the impact this game would have in terms of the marketing and brand building for the UFC, because the promotional build towards the release is really what helped the organization last year. All the extra marketing effectively delivered a collective double take on part of the consumer at just the perfect moment that the UFC 100 hype train rolled into town.

However, I did wonder how the sophomore effort might manage to follow the debut. In my observation, it’s really difficult for games to exceed expectations two years in a row, especially in the sports game category where every new version is only an incremental improvement over the last.

The game this year is different and better than in 2009, but it’s not wildly different; most of the fighters are the same, most of the mechanics are the same, and most of the moves are the same – all incremental, as opposed to disruptive, changes. This, as opposed to the rather disruptive change gamers experienced between the 2002 version and last year’s series debut. News that sales are below expectations leads me to believe that analysts may have under-estimated some of the above factors.