While EA pumping out annual sports titles isn’t exactly a surprise – and the publisher has promised four games by the end of this fiscal year – one has remained a mystery until now. A new leak reveals that alongside FIFA 21, NHL 21, and Madden NFL 21, EA Sports UFC 4 sits among EA’s upcoming slate of sports titles.
The leak surfaced via PS4Patches, a website that mines PlayStation Network updates for data that may hint at upcoming titles. Among recent changes is a patch for a game dubbed Magnum. Upon closer inspection, the files contain an image that is pretty clearly associated with UFC 4. The natural assumption is that Magnum is merely a pre-announcement code-name for EA Sports UFC 4.
The image is a graphic for a beta of some description, named ‘Community Feedback Environment,’ suggesting a pre-release feedback gathering beta may be on the cards. EA has run these types of early access events in recent years, implying UFC 4 will benefit from very much the same ahead of release later this year.
Looking at EA’s release habits for games that drop players into the blood and glory of the octagon, the publisher generally sticks to a two-year release cycle with the most recent title releasing back in 2018. A 2020 release, therefore, seems in keeping with EA’s release track record to date.
As for when we may hear something official from EA, we shouldn’t have long to wait. EA’s E3-replacement virtual event, EA Play Live, is slated for next week, June 18th (EA initially had it penciled in for June 11th, but the publisher opted to postpone the event in the wake of the anti-racism protests sweeping the US). As with previous on-the-ground editions of earlier years, expect trailers, news, and a slew of announcements, including, presumably, EA Sports UFC 4.