One of EA’s long-dormant franchises that hasn’t seen the light of day in some time is Fight Night. It’s last entry released in 2011 with Fight Night Champion. Although there is no official confirmation of the series’ return, boxing promoter Eddie Hearn is pushing to see Fight Night make a comeback and has even reached out to EA about it. Hearn was recently interviewed by The Boxing Voice and he seemed optimistic about a new entry in the series. Publisher EA is apparently “looking at” bringing it back, though nothing seems to be set in stone.
During the interview, Hearn was asked “has any game developer reached out to you about making a boxing video game?” Here’s what he had to say:
No, but they’ve got to, because every time I tweet about it, it goes crazy. I actually wrote to EA Sports [and said] “do you realize how many questions I get about Fight Night games? Let me bring it back.”
He later said EA responded with “we’re looking at it,” which is no confirmation by any means, but certainly an optimistic look at what could be the return of the franchise. You can watch the interview in full below (Fight Night section is at around the 1:45 mark):
(Editor’s Note: It should be noted that this is secondhand information through Hearn who is not affiliated directly with EA. We don’t have any acknowledgment directly from EA regarding the future of Fight Night, or even that the company is looking into its return.)
The Fight Night series first started on the PS2 with Fight Night 2004, followed by Round 2 in 2005, Round 3 in 2006, Round 4 in 2009, and Champion in 2011. The latest entry was presented as a darker and grittier take on boxing with an emotional story to go along with it. Because of its tone, violence, and language, it was the first and so far only EA Sports game to receive an M rating by the ESRB.
Last year, boxer Claressa Shields said she’d been contacted to be a part of what she thought was a new Fight Night for PS4, but it ultimately turned out to be a mistake. Not much else has been discussed about the future of the series, but judging on Hearn’s optimism, we could very well see it return.
