When it comes to boxing simulators, certain names like Real Boxing, Fight Night Round, and many more come to mind. Now it seems there is another name that is going to reign in this genre: Undisputed. This Steel City Interactive game has been released on October 11, 2024.
Nowadays, there is a scarcity of quality boxing or fighting games. In this regard, only EA Sports UFC comes to everyone’s mind despite the games being of sub-par quality. Hence this new title by Steel City Interactive has the potential to stand above all. And with the recent sales, it seems the recently released title is on the right track. However, these sales data do not tell the whole story.
Undisputed Hasn’t Met the Expectations
Talking about boxing games, the Fight Night Champion franchise had so much potential to make it one of the most legendary gaming titles of all time. However, EA shifted its focus to UFC and left its popular franchise as it is. So far, there hasn’t been much competition for EA Sports UFC.
Although UFC legend Conor McGregor has confirmed that a video game based on the Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship is in development. But that won’t be a full-fledged boxing title either.
That is why fans had so much hope for Undisputed. However, the fans didn’t like the game at all. A fan didn’t even feel the game was authentic boxing, despite being a simulation title. There are certain reasons for these criticisms as well.
This fan uninstalled the game after playing it just a couple of weeks.
Another fan thinks Undisputed is not for hardcore gamers. This game is for boxing fans who love gaming as well.
One more even went on to cancel his pre-order.
In just a few days after release, the game is having an array of technical problems like bugs and glitches, along with connection issues in online matches. The career mode of the game is also a bit bland, as it just engages the player instead of making the players truly live the story, just like the Isaac Frost storyline in Fight Night Champion.
Also, another annoying aspect of the game is that you can’t punch your opponent unless you are standing upright with your head on the center line. Seeing the gameplay, many have thought this game to be from 2004.
Those Crticisms Didn’t Stop Undisputed from Selling One Million Units
Despite the widespread disapproval from the fans, Undisputed has crossed the 1 million mark in just two weeks of its launch. Keeping aside all the hate, it’s a brilliant achievement by the brother duo of Asif and Asad Habib of the indie developing studio, Steel City Interactive. The more astonishing fact is that both of them have never worked in video games before.
In an interview with GamesIndustry.Buz, this is what the CEO of Stell City Interactive, Asif Habib had to say:
I’ve obviously been a huge gamer my entire life, And I’m a boxing fan. My brother called me up one evening and said ‘why don’t we try a little side project?’ That’s how it started. We were making it in our living room. And I got hooked on game development. We started doing everything: code, learning animation, animation trees… doing everything from watching tutorials, googling how to do things… And it just snowballed.
This huge accolade from this indie developer duo has got our respect. However, they will still have to work on the game more to get a better output amidst the heat of criticism. As it was their first project, we hope both Asif and Habib will prove that this sales record wasn’t a mere fluke and put a full stop to the hoards of criticisms.
