Analyst: UFC 2010 has fallen short

Following the surprise success of THQ’s UFC 2009 Undisputed last year, hopes are high for the recently released sequel – but one analyst reports that UFC 2010 is failing to meet the high expectations.

Last year THQ’s maiden UFC outing shipped over 3.5m copies, helping the publisher to what European publishing boss Rory Donnelly described as a tremendous turnaround”.

UFC 2010 producer Neven Dravinski admitted last month that expectations [for the game] are high but I think the 2010 product is a better, more complete game and offers more for consumers, so I’d like to think we can eclipse last year’s figures with more sales”.

However, Industry Gamers reports that Lazard Capital Markets analyst Colin Sebastian is downbeat about the new title’s performance.

Despite solid pre-orderlevels, our post holiday channel checks suggest that UFCUndisputed 2010 is tracking below our expectations at retail,” he claims. We also note thatAmazon has already discounted the title to $39 from $59 just one week post release.

Given solid game reviews and a healthy market for UFC’s pay-per-viewevents, we are somewhat surprised by the performance of the game to-date. Assuch, we expect fewer re-orders for UFC. Our updatedchecks indicate Take Two title Red Dead Redemption is still selling well, which maybe adding some competitive pressure to UFC.”

UFC 2010 is the first game from THQ to require the use of a single-use code to play online. Those buying the game pre-owned face stumping up extra cash for online access.

The game last week debuted at number two in the ELSPA GfK Chart-Track All Formats Top 40.