UFC president Dana White says EA Sports responsible for current MMA video game war

[Unknown Soldier]

UFC president Dana White has a simple message for fighters dreaming of competing in the world-famous octagon: Don't do business with EA Sports.

In an edict that started as a rumor on internet message boards, White stated after Saturday's historic UFC 100 event that he was "at war" with the popular video-game developers and that those that side with EA Sports will find themselves out of the UFC's good graces.

But perhaps surprising to some, White insists it was EA Sports that fired the first salvo in the still-developing controversy.

"It's easy to sit on the other side of the table and judge me on how I react to stuff like this," White said. "But let me tell you what – I've been in the trenches for almost 10 years, and I've been dealing with all these businesses, and EA was one of them."

EA Sports holds the publishing rights for several of the market's most successful sports-related video games, including the Madden NFL, FIFA, NASCAR and Tiger Woods PGA series. White said the UFC had hoped to join the ranks of those titles, but the California-based EA Sports declined to discuss the possibility.

"EA Sports told us, 'You're not a real sport,'" White said. "'We wouldn't touch this thing. We want nothing to do with this.'"

With EA Sports passing on the rights to the UFC's video game license, rival software company THQ elected to partner with mixed martial arts' biggest promotion. The company's first effort, "UFC Undisputed 2009," has shipped approximately 2 million units since its May release according to White, and the fiery exec is upset that EA Sports is now changing their tune with the recent announcement of a forthcoming "EA Sports MMA" title.

"We put our asses on the line, THQ and the UFC, to make a video-game deal in the worst economy in the world," White said. "We go out there and do this thing, and it's successful, and now [expletive] EA Sports wants to do a video game. Really? That's not what you told us a year-and-a-half ago.

"You told us you'd never be in business with us. They wouldn't even take a meeting because mixed martial arts disgusted them. This wasn't a real sport. Boy, they got over that real quick, didn't they?"

White views EA Sports' tactics with obvious disapproval, and he's made it clear that any fighter who signs over their likeness to the new project will be blacklisted from the UFC.

"I'm not tap-dancing around this thing or whatever," White said. "I'm telling you straight-up, I'm at war with them right now. That's how I look at it."

While former UFC champion and currently contracted UFC fighter Randy Couture is expected to appear in the EA Sports offering – a matter White says the company worked through with "The Natural" during a recent court appearance – the UFC president said not to expect that trend to continue.

"You won't be in the UFC," White said about additional fighters who sign with EA Sports.

Despite reports that Nick Diaz, Mohammed "King Mo" Lawal, Jason "Mayhem" Miller and Jake Shields – all potential targets to fight for the UFC in the future – have agreed to appear in the EA Sports title, White told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) he's not sure who the software company has secured for the upcoming MMA game.

But White remains firm in his decision, and he believes he's doing it for the right reasons.

"You know what the difference is?" White asked. "I'm in the mixed martial arts business. EA isn't.

"EA doesn't give a [expletive] about mixed martial arts. They made that very clear."

News Source: http://mmajunkie.com/news/15490/ufc...esponsible-for-current-mma-video-game-war.mma

 

[Davros]

What he needs to do is send all of his fighters over to the E.A offices
not because of their past reluctance to make a U.F.C game, but just because they deserve a good slapping

 

[nintenho]

I really am not a big fan of fighting sports but for EA, which has published bass fishing games and the Dej Jam fighting games, to claim that MMA can't be made into a legitimate sports game is hilarious.

I mean, Any even half-decent UFC game is guaranteed to sell well with how popular that UFC is right now. EA kind of really, really screwed this one up. I hope somebody loses their monocle over this.

 

[_xxx_]

He'll sone be unimployed and EA will win.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

He'll sone be unimployed and EA will win.

You mean Dana White? Don't think so... He is not some normal employee. He owns 10 % of the UFC's parent company and the job he has done to make UFC big will probably guarantee him a lifetime position if he so chooses.

 

[_xxx_]

Anyway, EA will win. The evil guys always do in real life.

 

[Tahir2]

Anyway, EA will win. The evil guys always do in real life.

They just need to write the dude a bigger cheque. Hopefully not made out of rubber.

 

[obonicus]

I think in this fairytale, they're both the evil side.

 

[Scott_Arm]

Dana White is a moron. So what if they said they didn't want to make an MMA game a year and a half go. They want to make one now, and they can do it if they want to. He doesn't have to cooperate with them, but to blacklist non UFC fighters is pretty extreme. If the game runs on a modified version of the Fight Night Round 4 engine, they could do some impressive things with an MMA game.

 

[Mintmaster]

Now that EA has finally decided to research and develop decent animation to make mocap transitions look more natural, I think they could do a pretty good job.

Even as an MMA fan, I don't give a rats ass about what EA said in the past. White doesn't pay any of his fighters for video game likeness rights and they have to give them up to the UFC for life to fight.

I can't wait for UFC fighters to form a union. At $300M in 2008 the UFC is probably a very solid fifth in revenues for US sports behind MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL, but while those organizations pay over 50% of revenues to players, the UFC pays under 20% and maybe under 10%. UFC 100 got $5.1M at the gate and well over 1M ppv buys (probably $20-$30 each). The official payroll was $1.8M. The only reason they can get away with this is they have an enormous monopoly.

 

[DuckThor Evil]

I can't wait for UFC fighters to form a union. At $300M in 2008 the UFC is probably a very solid fifth in revenues for US sports behind MLB, NFL, NBA, and NHL, but while those organizations pay over 50% of revenues to players, the UFC pays under 20% and maybe under 10%. UFC 100 got $5.1M at the gate and well over 1M ppv buys (probably $20-$30 each). The official payroll was $1.8M. The only reason they can get away with this is they have an enormous monopoly.

The amount of people on payroll is vastly different between these sports and fighters only have few fights in a year. I don't think there will be a union anytime soon. I agree that the pay is pretty low, especially for everybody that are not the main attraction, although even those guys can get pretty good bonuses if they win one of the extra payouts per tournament like knockout of the evening or submission of the night.

 

[Mintmaster]

Why does the number of people matter? Fewer people makes it easier to form a union, not harder.

Sure, most fighters only have a few fights per year, but the quality of the competition in the UFC is high enough that you have to train for at least two months per fight if you want to avoid having a poor showing and the chance of being cut.

The main attraction fighters are underpaid, too. Combine four average NHL teams and their revenue is about $300M. About 80 active players get paid around $170M, with stars getting $10M per year and the scrubs getting $450k. In the UFC, there's $300M revenue and the top fighters get $1.5M at most, and a few get a cut of PPV revenue (but nobody knows for sure how much).

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Why does the number of people matter? Fewer people makes it easier to form a union, not harder.

Sure, most fighters only have a few fights per year, but the quality of the competition in the UFC is high enough that you have to train for at least two months per fight if you want to avoid having a poor showing and the chance of being cut.

The main attraction fighters are underpaid, too. Combine four average NHL teams and their revenue is about $300M. About 80 active players get paid around $170M, with stars getting $10M per year and the scrubs getting $450k. In the UFC, there's $300M revenue and the top fighters get $1.5M at most, and a few get a cut of PPV revenue (but nobody knows for sure how much).

The number of people was in relation to the cost of labour, although now that I think about it wasn't such a great point. Despite the training it still is different to be in the spotlight three times a year than 80 times + the amount of travelling the players have to do atleast in NHL and NBA is pretty sick. Yes the money distribution is different in this sport, but I don't think it even should be the same + I think the salaries in the other sport leagues are questionable high. NHL is not very good business for many of the teams.

 

[Scott_Arm]

The fighters are the sport. It starts and ends with them. They sacrifice their health for your entertainment. I see no reason why they should not be getting the biggest cut of the money. For most professional sports, I think the salaries are crazy, but at the same time, if the teams are pulling in huge money, I'd rather see the money go to the players than the owners and the front office. Dana White is exploiting his fighters. He doesn't give a shit about them and he doesn't take care of them. He has a monopoly on the sport, so there is no reason for him to change.

 

[obonicus]

Aren't we talking something that is somewhat analogous to what the NCAA does, but less harsh? How does the NCAA get away with it?

 

[DuckThor Evil]

I personally don't have any problems how Dana White runs the show, if fact I think he has done an awesome job of making the sport what it is today. Sure the salaries aren't that high, but even that is imo good job on his part. Many of these guys would fight in smaller events for smaller money without the UFC and I'm sure most of the fighters are happy with having a contract in the UFC. In time the salaries will go up, but still no one is forced to fight there if they think they are underpaid. You can always get some other job. The fighters are employees and they get what they have agreed upon.

 

[John Reynolds]

And people tend to overlook the endorsements that good, crowd-drawing fighters get and the additional income that brings in for them.

 

[Mintmaster]

In time the salaries will go up, but still no one is forced to fight there if they think they are underpaid. You can always get some other job. The fighters are employees and they get what they have agreed upon.

Except they can't get another job and fight for someone else. They are stuck with the UFC, but the UFC is not stuck with them. If they keep winning to preserve their reputation and earning potential, their contract never ends.

There's no IP that the fighters have been made privy to. How is it legal to stop them from working where they want to? Fertitta made this lame analogy to Tom Brady switching teams every couple weeks, except he ignored the fact that A) 30 comparable teams were in the bidding for Brady, B) all those teams agreed to not being allowed to steal Brady without the team's concent (via a trade), C) Brady is paid if he's injured or doesn't perform well for the duration of his contract, and D) Brady can leave the league and play for the CFL if he wants, but simply loses his pay.

UFC contracts are unlike anything in the entire entertainment industry. Possibly the entire western workplace.

And people tend to overlook the endorsements that good, crowd-drawing fighters get and the additional income that brings in for them.

White is clamping down on that, too, believe it or not. He's trying to make sponsors pay him and not the fighters, and any company that doesn't gets banned.

 

[Unknown Soldier]

Really? Weird because I certainly remember Brock having a go at Bud for not sponsoring him and Dana seems to back Brock's sentiment.

"The Bud beer thing, It's the craziest thing I've ever heard in my life. I've spent a lot of money on him tonight and what, they're going to give him $20,00 or something?

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/ufc/2530941/White-hits-out-at-Brock-antics.html

Brock's apology for those interested.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/sport/ufc/2530930/Brock-issues-apology-to-White.html

 

[DuckThor Evil]

Except they can't get another job and fight for someone else. They are stuck with the UFC, but the UFC is not stuck with them. If they keep winning to preserve their reputation and earning potential, their contract never ends.

There's no IP that the fighters have been made privy to. How is it legal to stop them from working where they want to? Fertitta made this lame analogy to Tom Brady switching teams every couple weeks, except he ignored the fact that A) 30 comparable teams were in the bidding for Brady, B) all those teams agreed to not being allowed to steal Brady without the team's concent (via a trade), C) Brady is paid if he's injured or doesn't perform well for the duration of his contract, and D) Brady can leave the league and play for the CFL if he wants, but simply loses his pay.

UFC contracts are unlike anything in the entire entertainment industry. Possibly the entire western workplace.

I think it's critical to their business for them not making one fight deals and allowing the fighters fight elsewhere. Let's say Fedor comes in and beats Brock and leaves, that does not look good. I think their analogies are good. In normal working life, you work for the one that you have contract with and many jobs have clauses that prevent you working for the competition during a certain time period, sometimes those can be quite long. UFC also pays many of the fighters injuries and surgeries that come during training and not just injuries that come during the events.