It was recently revealed the EA Sports UFC 4 will launch in August, but it’ll be exclusive to current-generation consoles, with no plans for a PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X port.
While speaking about EA Sports’ next installment to their UFC series, and the possibility of it being released for next-gen consoles, producer Nate McDonald explained why the game might not end up on the PS5 and Xbox Series X.
“As far as the next-gen consoles are concerned, we’re really excited about that technology and what it’s going to bring to the industry. But our current goal as a team is to provide the best fighting game experience available to our players at launch in August on PS4 and Xbox One. We are exploring opportunities [for next-gen], but there is nothing to share right now. If both consoles support backwards compatibility for gen-four games then, presumably, fans will be able to play UFC 4 on their gen-five consoles.”
The developers also talked about some of the gameplay changes they’ve made, one of which is the control scheme, which some think is too complicated. One of the changes that they’ve made is to the clinch system, which is now tied to a button press instead of an analog stick. Also, when it comes to striking, players can now tap buttons for quick strikes and hold them down for heavy strikes.
There have also been some changes made to the ground game, which has always had its issues. Now, instead of using the right stick, players will use the left stick with simplified controls: push up to get up, left to start a submission, and right to do transitions. It’s also worth noting that the more complicated controls will be available for longtime fans of the UFC series, and there’s also an in-between setting.
Some have been calling for changes to the game’s career mode, which is the mode that players typically spend the most time with. In the past, the mode has been quite bland, with very little to do. In UFC 4, instead of doing mini-games to improve your fighter, things like sparring will improve your fighter. Also, the more players use a certain move, the better it gets. Also, the career mode will feature the ability to turn down fights, which might hurt your fighters’ popularity.
The fourth installment to EA Sports UFC 4 will launch for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on August 14.