EA Sports MMA Interview

03 Nov 2010 at 14:28:59 by Paul Younger

Before the launch of EA Sports' MMA title, IncGamers caught up with Development Director Nick Laing in London to find out more about the new title and also get some hands-on time in the ring. Yes, James decided it would be a good idea to get some MMA training in, much to our amusement. You can watch the video or read the transcript below.

Nick, EA Sports  MMA, it's a brand new IP for EA Sports. How difficult was it to pitch to EA that you wanted to make an MMA game.

It didn't turn out to be too hard at all.  The sport is huge and Peter Moore has already talked about how he's a big fan of the sport so it was matter of getting the right team together at and having the right foundation and getting going. I've been working on the game for more than two years and there's a core of guys who’ve been working on it longer than that.

Before you started developing the game did you have set ideas of what you wanted to do?  Obviously THQ released UFC Undisputed.  Did you look at that and see what the good and bad aspects were and then make our own unique part?

We were working on this game before that game came out so we've had the benefit of looking at the last two games but it's been kind of strange because like I say, personally, I've been working for more than two years.  I've had two children since I started this development cycle and there was a core of people working before that.  We started with the Fight Night engine and we were able to turn that into the MMA engine, we added ground game, kicks and spinning backfists and stuff like that so there was an awful lot of thought that goes into a project this size and we're lucky to have the foundation that we did.

How vital was it to seal a deal with a major promotion like Strikeforce?

We're really glad to have Strikeforce be part of our product.  They been great partners, those guys have been a blast to work with too but we're really about the global nature of the sport.  There are events all over the world; even in our game we have six different promotions all over the world.  Major AAA promotions in Japan. One of the things we want to make sure to do is celebrate that kind of global nature.

Will there be different rule sets.  When you see Pride and things like that, are we going to see the different rule sets that you can choose?

Absolutely.  I've been a big part of MMA, been a part of the industry for a long time, since the mid 90's and one of my favourite things is that ten minute first round in Japanese rules. The whole thing is about managing your stamina and nothing tests that like a ten minute round. Except of course when you're fighting in Brazil and there's Vale Tudo and it's basically twenty minutes and that's it.

When UFC came out Dana White made a big deal when EA Sports was announced at E3, he kind of made the threats about any fighters that came in EA Sports wouldn't participate in the UFC. What did you guys make of that?  Do you think they were scared of the competition?

Dana is going to be Dana and at that time he was probably one of our best PR guys.  We got a lot of phone calls during that time but we love the UFC as a fighting promotion. I'm a big fan of MMA like I said and we have plenty of fighters in our game like Randy Couture. He's been part of the UFC for a very long time.

Because of what Dana said about the UFC did you approach any fighters who said they want to make it in the UFC and didn't want jeopodise that being in EA Sports?

I didn't really come across that personally. I don't deal directly with any of the hardcore contract negotiations but we didn't have any problems like that.  We are really conscientious about the fighters. We are about the fighters.  We got a lot of guys that train, I train.  We feel a certain kinship with the guys.  If they thought we were going to put anything in jeopardy, no problem, you got to take care of yourself and we just want to be as supportive as possible to the sport as a whole.

Were there any fighters who didn't approach who you now wish were in the game?

Boy, right now I'm just working trying to get the game done.  But, nothing really comes to mind.  If anybody's interested our phones are always open bout right now we have some of the best guys in the industry.  We got your Fedors and Randys, we're glad to have the guys we have and let’s go ahead and make October 19th the best day we can.

With the possible addition to fighters would that be in DLC?  Are you already thinking about DLC?

Sure. There are DLC and some unlockable characters for promotions happening all over.

Back in November 2009 we chatted to you guys about the game then and you said EA were thinking about female fighters in the game.  How come that didn't come to fruition?

Yeah that was me (laughs).  Really, what it comes down to is making sure we got this one right.  The addition of female fighters kind of sounds trivial but they're different, trust me, and what we want to do is just make sure that the one we got right now is right.

Could we possibly see them in future games?  Is it down to physics?

I think our physics could handle female fighters.  Are you really interested in girl fighting?

A little bit.

Alright, just checking.  We are big fans of Cyborg. I hope that Carano comes back and fights again. I'm really excited about the next Strikeforce event but right now I definitely don't have announcements for the next game but I hope to have announcements later.

The title belts, are they going to be based on real life promotions or are they going to be created by yourselves?

Some of our promotions are, our B & C league promotions, those are created by EA and they've got their own belts and stuff like that, in the game. So if you've got some Weapons of Destruction Championship you'll wear it when you walk out for your title defense.  The Strikeforece is the licensed league that we have but something that is a cool, a little bit off topic is that if, at the end of your career, if you have proven yourself worthy in such a way you can have a title unification belt between the Japanese AAA promotion and the North American AAA promotion which is Strikeforce and Mystic.  That's a pretty big event in your single player career to be at the top of the heap.

These titles that you earn in career mode, will we be able to defend them in exhibition matches, like 1 on 1, and will you be able to put the title on the line straight away?

Yes, absolutely, like Fight Now. Right off the main menu you can pick Fight Now and whether you have the belt or whether I have the belt and then it becomes all the pomp and circumstance of a championship match.

In Career Mode are we starting from the bottom and working our way up or can you pick any fighter and then go straight into a weight division and then work your way through that division?

Are you starting from the bottom?  Definitely not. We want you to get into the game as a professional Mixed Martial Artist. You are not world class. When you start the game you are about 70% of a real fighter but at that point you start off with who you are at your heart of hearts.  Are you a boxer, are you a wrestler.  You have room to grow but you have a way to finish a fight.  That's available to you through learning about MMA, learning about the sport, building and traveling around the world and then ultimately becoming world championship material.

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