A recent announcement from Electronic Arts has fans excited that a new Fight Night game is coming to PlayStation and Xbox.
Fight Night Round 4 came out over ten years ago and the developer hasn’t brought an instalment out since Fight Night Champion back in 2011.
But a recent announcement has rejuvenated fans’ hopes for a Fight Night Round 5 game.
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Big Announcement
Neither Round 4 nor Champion were released on PS4 or Xbox One. And the game series has been somewhat neglected despite popularity with boxing and gaming fans alike.
But an email sent by EA has sparked rumours that this could be about to change.
Over a decade after the release of Fight Night Round 4 for PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the American company announced they would be closing down the servers for the game.
In the email, EA said: “Hello Fight Night Round 4 fans, After 11 years of an incredible online community, the daily active playerbase in Fight Night Round 4 has reached a very low number and we can no longer ensure a quality online experience.”
“As of March 9, 2020, the Fight Night Round 4 servers will be retired.”
“After this date, you’ll still be able to play the offline modes on Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.”
“Thanks for your continued support.”
Two things:
1) I can’t believe anyone is still playing Fight Night Round 4 eleven years after it launched.
2) This definitely means it’s time for Fight Night Round 5. pic.twitter.com/6ULZ2MjVsG
— Nick Sandwich (@nickchester) December 11, 2019
A Long Wait
The Fight Night series started in 2004, and a new edition was released annually until Round 3 in 2006.
It took three years for EA to release Round 4, which featured Manny Pacquiao and Ricky Hatton alongside legendary boxers Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson.
The next game however didn’t follow as its predecessors had. Champion is a much darker game and became the first EA Sports title to earn a mature rating.
There has since been little attention paid to the series as EA turned it’s attention elsewhere, releasing three UFC games since the last boxing instalment.
Fans have been eagerly awaiting the next instalment of the game franchise and with superstars like Anthony Joshua, Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury all at the top of their game, surely EA will be looking to cash in.
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2020 Release
With PlayStation 5 looking likely for a 2020 release, the announcement has created a real buzz around the potential for a new Fight Night.
(Featured image source: Instagram/ @easportsfightnight, Anthony Joshua and Deontay Wilder)