THQ recently reported quarterly losses of $30.1 million due to lower-than-expected sales of UFC Undisputed 2010, which was released earlier this year with big hype stemming from the huge success of UFC Undisputed 2009 the previous year.
The company blamed competition from Rockstar’s Red Dead Redemption as the culprit for the lower than expected sales, and was considering pushing back the date of the next release to address the lackluster numbers.
It looks like THQ has just released their schedule for the 2012 fiscal year and GameSpot reports on the findings:
Sure enough, the slate reveals that the next UFC game won’t arrive until Q1 2012, nearly two years after May’s UFC Undisputed 2010. While still a best-seller with nearly 3 million units shipped, the game did not perform as well as expected.
PastaPadre gives their take as to why UFC Undisputed 2010 did so poorly and the reasoning behind pushing the game release date out:
Following a botched launch of UFC Undisputed 2010, huge sales slide from the previous year, and consumer discontent towards the product, THQ came out and stated that they were considering moving off the yearly schedule for the series. It was initially expected that any change to the release pattern would follow a UFC 2011 product in spring. It now appears though that they have shifted expectations and have decided that the next UFC game will have an 18+ month development cycle.
Soon to be facing competition in the market from EA Sports MMA, a series being developed on a two year development cycle going forward, winter 2011 positions the next UFC game well. Those are generally slow months where it would likely avoid facing heavy competition for dollars as it did against multiple AAA titles that released in the May-June period this year.
Payout Perspective:
UFC Undisputed 2009 was a great release for THQ in 2009, where the game sold beyond anyone’s wild expectations and gave THQ a huge boost to their bottom line, considering the financial woes the company was going through the years before. Though the high expectations of UFC Undisputed 2010 were not met, due to problems such as timing of release and customer dissatisfaction, it’s good to see that they won’t be rushing another release next year.
There are a good amount of issues that THQ must address before their next release, and moving the game development time to 18 months is a great move. Not only that, but MMA is not a seasonal sport where rosters and teams change dramatically from one year to another, so expecting MMA fans to buy a yearly release where most of the changes are minor and roster oriented is not a great selling point. EA Sports anticipated such a response and will be alternating between their boxing and MMA releases.
Yes cartwheels.
The thing is MMA can have a annual video game. But one promotion shouldnt. This is a great opportunity for both THQ and EA to work together and not step on each others toes. Since its clear 1 company and promotion cant do annual gamesthey should alternate years. EA should release between THQ years. The MMA video game market would stay strong and satisfied. The companies can both put out successful products each time out.
The problem with lack of changes was seen a mile away. I just assumed the UFC would ration out the fighters a little less generous than they did. Putting very few fighters on the first game was really the only way to force people to buy the second. Now if there was a big name fighter on the second that wasnt on the first it might have had a chance. But i dont think it did. It had new unknown fighters. If Brock or GSP was debuting on the second addition it would have sold like like the first.
This article should have a huge asterisk beside it – all pending that a) THQ is still in business in 2 years b) UFC does not sign a deal with EA. After the release of the coming EA MMA game a new benchmark will be set that will solidify EA’s hold on the sport gaming genre.