Undisputed Could Fill A Void In More Ways Than One

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Undisputed is set to launch soon and it marks a significant date for gaming than some may think. Initially known as Esports Boxing club, The game is set to be the first major boxing title in nearly 14 years since 2011’s Fight Night champion. The game started off as a passion project for Steel City interactive and quickly began to rack up a following due to the desire for a boxing Sim as EA has been focused on their UFC games and hasn’t shown interest in revisiting Fight Night.

The game started small but quickly grew into the first fully licensed boxing game in years with 70 boxers featured.

It quickly turned into far more than a passion project however as the game ultimately attracted the Major boxing promotions and is now a fully licensed boxing game with 70 active boxers confirmed.The game has been in early access since January of 2023 now and has looked more promising as things went on in terms of its gameplay as Steel City has been listening to player feedback heavily and it looks to capture the complexities of boxing in a way that hasn’t been seen in a combat sports game since EA released Fight Night Champion.

Videos I’ve seen show a lot of nuance between offense and defence, such as tightening your guard up at the cost of sacrificing mobility and altering the angle of your punches. Movement looks dynamic and can be impacted by the style that you choose and there’s dozens of different punches to choose from to fit the kind of fighter you build. If the game delivers, it could be big for a number of reasons.

Capturing A Long Dormant Market

Boxing is still a popular sport and yet, it’s a major sport that hasn’t had a simulation title in years. So Undisputed could very much take off if the game reviews well. Boxing is enjoying a pretty strong period right now as some boxers such as Canelo Alvarez are among the most marketable athletes on earth and we’ve witnessed some classic bouts in recent years such as the epic clash between Tyson Fury and Deontay Wilder in their third fight back in 2021.

Canelo Alvarez, who’s also featured on the cover of the game is among the most popular athletes on earth.

So now is a great time to release a boxing game and Undisputed could end up being a bigger success than Steel City or anyone anticipated.

EA Could See Some Competition

While Fight Night Champion is often called one of the greatest combat sports games of all time along with UFC undisputed 3, their decision to not make a boxing game and the more mixed reception to their MMA games has left a lot of fans wanting more. We’ve seen what can happen when an alternative comes up such as palworld attracting a massive number of players particularly due to fans dissatisfaction with recent PokÃ©mon games.

Even EA quietly (albeit unofficially) discontinued their NBA Live series of basketball games due to the far better reception of the NBA 2K games. While boxing and MMA aren’t the same sport, there are many who are fans of both and may just not opt to go for another lackluster outing from EA if Undisputed is the more enjoyable game.

Of course all of this depends on how well Undisputed performs critically when it launches next week. As a lifelong boxing fan I’m heavily anticipating the game. Undisputed is set to launch on October 11th, 2024 for windows, PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

DeMandre "LetalisVenator" Pressley

A lifelong gamer who enjoys playing on every platform. Eventually, I grew to love fighting games in particular and began to compete and even win competitions for some games, primarily the 2013 revival of killer instinct. Outside of gaming I also have aspirations of being a comic book artist with a few ideas of my own im developing in my head. When reviewing any game I try to keep my mind open and avoid nitpicking too much. It takes a lot for something to detract me from truly enjoying it so I may not focus on smaller details the way some others might do. I enjoy almost any genre, just don't ask me to play horror games or puzzle games.