EA has confirmed that its Fight Night boxing series is returning after a 15-year break.
The company announced the news through a new Twitter account, EA Sports Fight Night. The only post so far reads: “To everyone who stayed in our corner: Fight Night is coming back.” It comes with an image of boxing gloves hanging over a ring under a spotlight. The profile mentions “back into the ring” and notes that an ESRB rating is pending, hinting the game may already be further along than expected.
It will be the first title in the series since Fight Night Champion in 2011. EA released five Fight Night games between 2004 and 2011, all of which scored at least 85 in reviews. The company then moved its fighting game focus to UFC, with its latest release, UFC 6, arriving this year.
The return suggests EA may now support both boxing and UFC games, though an annual release like EA Sports FC or Madden is unlikely. UFC never followed a yearly schedule, and neither did Fight Night.
One reported reason the series was shelved was the challenge of securing rights to individual boxers’ likenesses, which is harder than working through a single promotion like UFC. EA now appears willing to take on that effort again.