MAKING a boxing game is fraught with pitfalls and complications. As if endless hours of graphic creation and planning of the new Undisputed video game wasn’t enough, forging relationships and convincing stars of the ring to feature in the game, released on October 11, proved quite the task for Ash Habib and his team at Steel City Interactive.
Devin Haney was one fighter who declined to be included in Undisputed. ‘The Dream’ turned dreamer and only wanted to participate if he was on the cover. It appears that dealing with individual athletes or their managers leads to a variety of demands and requirements.
“It’s one of the challenges,” says Ash Habib. “Actually, it’s probably one of the reasons why a boxing game hasn’t been made in 13 years, because, if you want to make a basketball game you go to the NBA, you do a licensing deal with them.
“The same with, I guess, what EA did with UFC. Everyone has their own requirements. I’d like to think we’ve tried our best to try and bring every single fighter into the game.”
Haney’s cover demand isn’t the most entitled request Ash and his team received.
“There was another fighter who said, ‘I’m only going to be put in the game if you never allow me to lose’. So Devin saying he wanted to be on the cover is actually quite small compared to some of the demands we’ve had. People ask me, why hasn’t a boxing game been made? You just have to look at reasons like that.”
One man who made no such demands is Ryan Rhodes. The former world-level operator was a big advocate from the start and became the first fighter signed to the game. Arriving at Ash’s house while he was developing the game in his living room with his brothers, Ryan’s interest was piqued.
“He had him come over through a mutual friend. He saw what we were creating and he was on board straight away. So then Ryan kind of opened a few doors in terms of introducing me to Dean Sherriff, who owns the Empire fight tape brand.
“Dean then opened the doors to the likes of Tyson Fury and other contacts. He ended up becoming an investor as well. So just building these relationships was really key,” adds Habib.