EA Announces Fight Night Returning For Fourth Round

The next game in well-received boxing series Fight Night is on the way, publisher Electronic Arts announced today. EA Sports Fight Night Round 4, as the game is officially and lengthily known, is being developed by EA Canada for Xbox 360 and PlayStation and expected to release in 2009. The series is seeing a homecoming to the Vancouver-based studio, which developed the original Fight Night 2004 but then passed development of the next two entries to newly-formed dev house EA Chicago. Since then, EA Chicago - originally intended to focus heavily on fighting games - has closed. According to today's press release, Fight Night Round 4 is built on a "re-written gameplay engine," and contains a new physics system. It features notable boxing figures such as Muhammad Ali and a "young" Mike Tyson - who for reasons beyond the range of this editorial staff's speculation has not been featured in a video game in nearly a decade. Said executive producer Kevin Wilkinson, "The EA Sports Fight Night franchise has always been synonymous with quality and innovation that raised the bar for the sports videogame genre. EA Sports Fight Night Round 3 was a platform defining game as the industry transitioned to next generation consoles. EA Sports Fight Night Round 4 will change how boxing games are played and measured in the future."