UFC and THQ's Longtime Brand Marriage Getting Results on Facebook

UFC Undisputed Fight Nation is an officially-branded Facebook MMA game developed by THQ and Embassy Interactive. It is based largely on Mafia Wars' style of gameplay, making it immediately familiar to social gamers. The game stands out for its solid growth and deep brand implementation. The game has shown an all-time high of 560,073 monthly active users and 86,097 daily active users on our data service tracking application, AppData. The game recently made it into the top three of our emerging games by growth. Its MAU figure continues to climb steadily, while DAU has remained fairly constant around the 80,000 mark since a large spike from just over 40,000 around April 13. The game places players in the role of a rookie Ultimate Fighting Championship fighter. New players pick their initial fighting discipline from a choice of three and are given a small selection of moves which can be trained using energy. Further moves and fighting styles can be unlocked by purchasing equipment, much like missions can be unlocked in Mafia Wars and similar games. Energy is refreshed every few minutes but can also be immediately topped up with premium items or by exchanging gifts with members of the player's friends list who are also playing. Besides training, players can also fight other people by choosing a selection of their favorite moves and comparing performance against an opponent. These opponents are drawn from the entire community, not just the player's Facebook friends list. As such, executive producer Mike Doyle believes that the game will "create an invested, connected community of UFC fans." Doyle also believes that the game particularly distinguishes itself from other Mafia Wars-type games in these confrontations by "showcasing the actual UFC superstars via authentic fight images -- [this is] much more engaging and visceral than a text-based solution." As part of the attempt to attract UFC fans to the game, a "contests" feature was recently added, where players of the game are entered into prize draws for real UFC event tickets by completing in-game milestones. Doyle refers to the game as "an integral part of the ecosystem of connected experiences that is the UFC." The game is monetized via "UFC Points" which can be redeemed for energy, health and stamina boosting items. The game currently accepts credit card, PayPal, Zong Mobile Payments and offer walls as a means of acquiring these points. Doyle says that the team is keen to "examine creative avenues of monetization" but stresses that the community aspect is also a very important part of the experience. Facebook Credits are not currently supported by the game but Doyle notes that the team plans to integrate the system as required by July. Doyle tells us that as the game continues to expand, players can expect regular updates and improvements, including "continued UI refinement, new camps and techniques and 'training tickets' -- tokens that can be collected and used to unlock special techniques." You can follow UFC Undisputed Fight Nation's progress on Facebook with AppData, our traffic tracking application for social games and developers.

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UFC and THQ's Longtime Brand Marriage Getting Results on Facebook

Pete Davison

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