Two of the biggest names on its sports lineup are NHL and UFC, and from the looks of things, it doesn’t seem like EA’s relationship with either the hockey or mixed martial arts brand is set to change anytime soon. Announced through two subsequent press releases, EA has signed multi-year deals with both major sports promotions, promising to continue developing titles in its long-running EA Sports UFC and NHL video game franchises.
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Speaking on the UFC, EA’s statement claims “the world is playing and watching more EA SPORTS UFC than ever before as MMA fandom continues to grow,” citing that the debut of the recently released UFC 4 saw a spike of “75 percent more players than EA SPORTS UFC 3.” EA goes on to claim it wants to continue its over 10-year relationship with the seminal MMA brand, extending its relationship in a multi-year new deal. EA’s statement alone seems to confirm that UFC 4, which launched back in August, was a huge success for the company, bringing in an influx of new players.
As for NHL, the company celebrates the success of the recently released NHL 21, while also claiming that “the new agreement will allow EA Sports to accelerate authentic and innovative hockey simulation experiences.” It seems NHL 21 was also a huge success for EA, with the statement revealing that the game had the most active daily players at launch that the franchise has seen in three years. NHL has been in the EA stable for quite some time now, with the two brands working together since the early 90s. It seems the deal will see them continue to develop games together for the foreseeable future.
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