Fight Night Knocked Out in June Sales

by pastapadre
Posted July 16th, 2009 at 3:48 pm

fnr40716

Fight Night has proven one of the few sports franchises that has mainstream appeal. Fight Night Round 3 represented the second strongest franchise in US sales for EA Sports behind only Madden. After taking a few years off Fight Night Round 4 came out last month though it was difficult to judge the buzz around the game. Discussion online primarily centered around the controversial decision to remove the optional button control scheme and UFC 2009 Undisputed had released to high praise.

We now have the official sales numbers for FNR4 from NPD and can look at what it means for the franchise.

Comparing numbers to the previous iteration with Fight Night isn’t as simple as it is with franchises that have been releasing on a yearly basis. FNR3 released just a couple of months after the 360 came out and had to wait until the end of that year to be a launch title on the PS3. While the 360 was somewhat supply strained at the time it was a game that was used to promote “next-gen” and came out in a relatively dead period for releases. Now there is some strong competition from UFC to contend with.

So because of those variables it wouldn’t make much sense to go into analysis on the growth from 3 to 4. It would be reasonable to expect FNR4 to show an increase in sales but how large for it to be a positive indication would’ve proven difficult to judge. As a sequel there is always that guaranteed fan base and the potential to build on it especially given how highly regarded FNR3 was. Less than strong numbers would show a weakness for the series in future years.

With the official numbers out the news for FNR4 is not good. The game sold a solid but far from spectacular 260,800 on the 360 and 210,300 on the PS3 for a combined 471,100 sold in June. That number falls far short of even what NCAA Football has been opening at the last few years.

The most embarrassing part of all this has to be that UFC 2009 Undisputed outsold Fight Night for the month on the 360 and in total. Yes, UFC’s second month outsold Fight Night’s first. I don’t think anyone would ever have predicted that. UFC 2009 Undisputed sold 1.14 million combined in its first month and that was the first game in the series which makes the numbers that much more astonishing. The total for the second month is estimated at just over 500,000 with the 360 accounting for 338K of that.

So what could have been the reason for the disappointing sales of Fight Night Round 4? Certainly the bad buzz generated from the removal of the button control scheme has to be considered. That dominated discussion about the game prior to release. However the main factor has to be the competition from UFC. Sure they are different sports but most consumers, including myself, view them as fighting games and that made it less likely that they would pick up both of them.

With the UFC gaining in popularity and boxing continuing its decline it is not a surprise that UFC would take over as the top licensed simulation fighting game. What does make for a surprise is that it happened on the first go round and in such a dominant way.

Tags: latest news, sales analysis

http://www.intensedebate.com/people/topper91 topper91

Shogun is right. FNR4 sold nearly 500,000 copies in the final week of June (released June 25). I wouldn't consider that a 'knockout.' I think those are pretty impressive sales figures over a 6 day period. I think maybe July sales will be more revealing numbers.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/topper91 topper91

Shogun is right. FNR4 sold nearly 500,000 copies in the final week of June (released June 25). I wouldn't consider that a 'knockout.' I think those are pretty impressive sales figures over a 6 day period. I think maybe July sales will be more revealing numbers.
Demetrius

Pasta, you need to take this article down. This was from one week in sales for Fight Night Round 4. Pretty impressive if you ask me.
Demetrius

Pasta, you need to take this article down. This was from one week in sales for Fight Night Round 4. Pretty impressive if you ask me.
Rip

Oh dear. Pasta, what are you thinking?

FNR4 had one week of sales in June, and didn't release until July in some countries, yet you still claim that it is 'embarrassing' that UFC sold more throughout June?

Wow.
Rip

Oh dear. Pasta, what are you thinking?

FNR4 had one week of sales in June, and didn't release until July in some countries, yet you still claim that it is 'embarrassing' that UFC sold more throughout June?

Wow.
luschsi

LOL. Never heard of this site before, but considering that the first article I read on it was complete bullshit I doubt I'll ever visit again.

How can you talk so much shit when it's obvious that FNR4 was released in the last week of June?
luschsi

LOL. Never heard of this site before, but considering that the first article I read on it was complete bullshit I doubt I'll ever visit again.

How can you talk so much shit when it's obvious that FNR4 was released in the last week of June?
TZS

the lack of button options at the release hurt the sales somewhat of a great game.
TZS

the lack of button options at the release hurt the sales somewhat of a great game.
http://www.TheKoalition.com/ The 7 Dawg

How on earth is this a valid argument when UFC was out the whole month of June and Fight Night Round 4 was released on June 25th. ????????????????? This means that FN4 made those numbers in 5 days. Your argument holds no weight. THIS ARGUMENT IS BS.
http://www.TheKoalition.com The 7 Dawg

How on earth is this a valid argument when UFC was out the whole month of June and Fight Night Round 4 was released on June 25th. ????????????????? This means that FN4 made those numbers in 5 days. Your argument holds no weight. THIS ARGUMENT IS BS.
Islandcactus

I always thought UFC would outsell FNR this year but I personally prefer FNR's gameplay. It takes ages to finally get in the ring in UFC and boom in less than 10 seconds, there's a TKO.

Nothing like slugging with Fraiser into the 12th..buttons or not!
Islandcactus

I always thought UFC would outsell FNR this year but I personally prefer FNR's gameplay. It takes ages to finally get in the ring in UFC and boom in less than 10 seconds, there's a TKO.

Nothing like slugging with Fraiser into the 12th..buttons or not!
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/sroeland sroeland

I must also point out that this is a flawed comparison…one game (UFC) has the entire month to accumulate sales, while the other (FN R4) had just one week. Kinda unfair to compare the two…

As for the quality of the games, I used UFC as part of GameStop's "trade 3, get FN R4 free" deal…I couldn't stand UFC's shallow career mode (only allowed to fight for 7 years, your fighter never ages, menus are clunky). I am glad I made that decision and I am enjoying FN R4 much more than I enjoyed UFC.
http://intensedebate.com/people/sroeland sroeland

I must also point out that this is a flawed comparison…one game (UFC) has the entire month to accumulate sales, while the other (FN R4) had just one week. Kinda unfair to compare the two…

As for the quality of the games, I used UFC as part of GameStop's "trade 3, get FN R4 free" deal…I couldn't stand the shallow career mode (only allowed to fight for 7 years, your fighter never ages, menus are clunky). I am glad I made that decision and I am enjoying FN R4 much more than I enjoyed UFC.
http://intensedebate.com/people/sroeland sroeland

I must also point out that this is a flawed comparison…one game (UFC) has the entire month to accumulate sales, while the other (FN R4) had just one week. Kinda unfair to compare the two…

As for the quality of the games, I used UFC as part of GameStop's "trade 3, get FN R4 free" deal…I couldn't stand the shallow career mode (only allowed to fight for 7 years, your fighter never ages, menus are clunky). I am glad I made that decision and I am enjoying FN R4 much more than I enjoyed UFC.
http://www.intensedebate.com/people/sroeland sroeland

I must also point out that this is a flawed comparison…one game (UFC) has the entire month to accumulate sales, while the other (FN R4) had just one week. Kinda unfair to compare the two…

As for the quality of the games, I used UFC as part of GameStop's "trade 3, get FN R4 free" deal…I couldn't stand UFC's shallow career mode (only allowed to fight for 7 years, your fighter never ages, menus are clunky). I am glad I made that decision and I am enjoying FN R4 much more than I enjoyed UFC.
bux

Game is great but… Mike Tyson is on the game, I still cant forget when OJ Simpson was on APF and you made 10 fucking post about it… You said absoulely nothing about that stuff, but all in all that button mashing sux but… Causal people who play WANT THAT, so they will not buy it
bux

Game is great but… Mike Tyson is on the game, I still cant forget when OJ Simpson was on APF and you made 10 fucking post about it… You said absoulely nothing about that stuff, but all in all that button mashing sux but… Causal people who play WANT THAT, so they will not buy it
Anon

Umm too bad Fight NIght Round 4 was released on June 23rd so their "first month" of sales was a week long. Multiply that by 4.5 weeks that consisted of June and you have an average of 2.12 million copies or TWICE what Undisputed sold.

Padre, when did you become THQ's bitch?
Anon

Umm too bad Fight NIght Round 4 was released on June 23rd so their "first month" of sales was a week long. Multiply that by 4.5 weeks that consisted of June and you have an average of 2.12 million copies or TWICE what Undisputed sold.

Padre, when did you become THQ's bitch?
DaMaddGenius

i'm a purist. i love boxing as a sport. i respect MMA as a new sport, but am a much bigger fan of boxing. that being said, purist or not, forcing analog control on people is a terrible idea. i don't like button mashing, but its better than not knowing what punch i'm gfonna throw cuz the stick betrayed me. there are sim lovers in every genre (madden and fight nite for me) but i believe gaming is about getting a controller to do what u want. thats what it was at the dawn of video games, and it reamins that way today
DaMaddGenius

i'm a purist. i love boxing as a sport. i respect MMA as a new sport, but am a much bigger fan of boxing. that being said, purist or not, forcing analog control on people is a terrible idea. i don't like button mashing, but its better than not knowing what punch i'm gfonna throw cuz the stick betrayed me. there are sim lovers in every genre (madden and fight nite for me) but i believe gaming is about getting a controller to do what u want. thats what it was at the dawn of video games, and it reamins that way today
7thsign

this is stupid. fight night round 4 had a week of sales compared to ufc's a whole month sale. i played both games, and i like fight night way better.

and ufc is starting to suck big time, i'll still prefer boxing over mma any day. sick of ground humping crap
7thsign

this is stupid. fight night round 4 had a week of sales compared to ufc's a whole month sale. i played both games, and i like fight night way better.

and ufc is starting to suck big time, i'll still prefer boxing over mma any day. sick of ground humping crap
Travis

Ummm, Fight Night was only available for purchase for one week in the month of June. Whoever wrote this article is an idiot and anyone who listened to this rabble is retarded.
Travis

Ummm, Fight Night was only available for purchase for one week in the month of June. Whoever wrote this article is an idiot and anyone who listened to this rabble is retarded.