MMA has a spot in the esports industry too. The transition is a bit slow but even the big esport companies are starting to take notice. The fact that professional MMA fighters are gamers too and are openly talking about their enjoyment of the video games has got the attention of companies like ONE Fighting Championship.
This company from Singapore that hosts MMA tournaments as well as kickboxing stated that as of 2018 they were planning to do more investments in the esport industry. And as a result, partnering with stakeholders, they able to raise US$1 billion and the birth of ONE esports.
In addition to that, Demetrious Johnson indicated in an interview that he is a passionate player of World of Warcraft. He likes spending hours in that world between his training sessions. Actually, as of late, Demetrious is spending more time on gaming and streaming rather than on training for fights. As professional player that says alot the direction the MMA industry is headed to.
The three most popular MMA videos currently are;
UFC Undisputed 3
This is an MMA or mixed martial arts video game showcasing the properties of UFC and the fighters who have performed in the physical arena. It was launched as UFC Undisputed 2010 and released into two consoles; PlayStation and Xbox 360.
The installment in the series perfected the development to bring new MMA fans and even more MMA entertainment. The game play was taken to be favorable by the fans and the reviews were positive.
UFC Undisputed 3 has proved to be a greater improvement from the ealier deveoped EA MMA. Every fighter in the video game was carefully designed with their unique fighting traits, a new footwork aspect was added to the game; the submission system was completely revamped. This game was a masterpiece of MMA realism.
This game continued to recruit new MMA fans. There were so many fans that UFC Undisputed 3 was part of numerous eSports tournaments, and an impressive number of competitive players competed for monetary and other prizes.
The consideration of the video game to be as away to attract new MMA fans into the industry is a great move for the companies and the professional fighters, which can be monetized during the physical tournaments in ticket selling as result increase in the companies revenue.
EA Sports MMA
Also initially known as EA Sport MMA.The video game was developed by EA Tiburon and realesed on two consoles; PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 back in 2010. This game allowed you to take on the role of an MMA fighter and jump in the ring.
Back when the game came out: it was revolutionary because it stepped away and distinguished itself from all of the boxing video games that came out before. However, in retrospect, the game’s controls and general feel lacked, but it gave birth to something absolutely new.
EA Sports UFC
This brand was released in June 3, 2014, with cover of the UFC fighters Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson. With the partnership between EA Canada and Skybox Labs, it published in EA sports for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It was received with a mixed average reaction.
In addition to that, it was launched as a sequel successor of both EA Sports MMA and UFC Undisputed 3. It had sequel which released in 2016 as EA Sports UFC 2.