In EA Sports UFC 4 players can develop and customize characters through a unified progression system across all modes to go from unknown amateur to UFC superstar in the new Career Mode. New to UFC 4, players can also experience four all-new environments, including The Kumite, The Backyard, UFC Apex and Action Avenue, or challenge the world in new Blitz Battles or Online World Championships to become the undisputed champ. Performance details like weight class and one of five MMA disciplines, including Wrestling, Jiu-Jitsu, Boxing and more, define how players fight, while over 1,600 new pieces of earnable gear, over 120 emotes and more allow players to put their personality on display while doing it. 

In gameplay, fluid clinch-to-strike combinations offer more responsive and authentic stand-up gameplay experiences, while overhauled takedown and ground mechanics deliver more control in those key phases of the fight. No matter how or where players play, EA Sports UFC 4 puts them at the center of every fight. Fluid clinch control brings RPM into the art of the ‘clinch’, adding a key element of strategy to the striking system. RPM Tech drives a takedown overhaul, with a slew of new takedown animations, driven by player control and fighter attributes. A new submission system was built to offer a simplified player experience, with more ways to transition into submission attempts, accelerate a finish, or deploy high-impact slams to escape them. 

Additionally, an overhaul to Career Mode introduces a brand-new way to develop fighter backstories and offers an in-depth evolution process for the duration of the fighter’s career. The new fighter evolution feature lets players dictate a fighter’s skillset, as every punch thrown, or every takedown executed builds fighters up in that specific discipline. Relationship Building brings the impact of partnerships and rivalries into UFC 4, learning from both friend and foe to gain experience and learn vital skills. Players can pick their path, which allows them to choose the fights, weight class and rivalries they want, ensuring no two careers are alike. 

Blitz Battles is a new fast-paced mode where players will compete against other players online in a rapid-fire tournament. These tournaments will change regularly with new rulesets that are designed to keep the experience and competition fresh. In addition to that, we’ve also added the option for combined weight classes in fight now, so you can take flyweights in against heavyweights if that’s your thing.

Career Mode

Whether it’s inside or outside the octagon, every move matters in your pursuit of becoming the undisputed champion in EA Sports UFC 4. The overhauled career mode experience gives you all new tools to put yourself in the journey from unknown amateur to UFC superstar.

Using the all new Fighter Evolution feature, watch your character grow based on the disciplines they use in training or bouts. If you're a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu artist who trained for his black-belt from childhood or a devastating boxer who spent their youth in backyard contests, your experience shapes your skill-set. Control over your career reaches an all-new peak this year, with meaningful relationship building options and more control in career paths. The fights, the weight classes, and the rivals you’ll make are all up to you.

Star Rating System

UFC 4 has re-envisioned the way players will view fighter overalls. Every fighter in the game will now be given a star value of 1-5 that will serve as a representation of their overall ability in the game. 

In addition to the overall star rating, each fighter will also have a star rating for their stand up, ground game, health, and moves. This change will allow players to quickly observe and determine a fighter's strengths and weaknesses in specific areas, without focusing on a single numerical OVR. This allows for a better assortment of fighters when playing online or against friends on the couch. For returning users and advanced players, you can examine a fighter’s individual attribute values as numbers. This will help you determine who has the highest punch power or highest kick speed in each division and allow comparisons of individual attributes on each fighter. 

New Attributes:

We have expanded the attribute system to accommodate new gameplay features as well as allow for a more realistic representation of diverse fighting styles that can be seen in the UFC. Here are the new attributes: 

• Punch Speed / Kick Speed - Punches and kicks are split in terms of their speed.
• Punch Power / Kick Power - Punches and kicks are split in terms of the damage they cause.
• Clinch Striking - Supporting the brand new clinch system.
• Ground Striking - Supporting the brand new ground and pound system.
• Cardio - Replaces strike stamina and ground stamina.
• Recovery - Replaces heart and toughness.

Top 5 Moves:

The top 5 moves for each fighter will be viewable on fighter select screens. Players will be able to view which moves each fighter specializes in or has the highest move level for. You can also view the inputs required to use those moves during gameplay. This allows for insight on your opponent’s moves as well. 

Live Attribute and Move Updates:

In UFC 4, we designed the attribute system to be much more organic and allow fighters to improve/decline through in-game updates depending on the results of their performance in the real world. Following major UFC events, a fighter update will be released on UFC 4 with the new attribute and move updates for fighters. 

How we got here:

You may recognize similarities between the new system and 'fighter grade' system that was implemented for UFC 3’s online ranked championships. The 'fighter grade' system put licensed fighters into tiered groups that acted as a modifier for the number of ranking points a user could potentially gain by winning a match. The fighter grades put fighters who were within a specific OVR range, together in the same pool. Anyone with a 95+ OVR, would be an A+ Grade, anyone with a 92-94 OVR would be an A grade and so on. This allowed players to quickly compare their fighter against their opponent and helped to decrease mismatches and mirror matches. We saw a positive response from our community and saw an increase in fighter pick diversity outside of the top fighters.

We also run into interesting issues on the UFC team in regards to balance. Unlike any other EA SPORTS game, UFC fighters do not have great teammates to elevate their weaknesses or to round out their strengths. Sometimes these weaknesses are with submissions, striking, or health where if capitalized on would give big advantages to their opponent. This is a realistic part of fighting, you want to expose weaknesses as a player. If you are fighting Francis Ngannou, you probably want to take him down. If you are fighting Demian Maia, you likely do not want to go to the ground. We need to make these types of strengths and weaknesses clear for our casual player base while also holding to the authentic strengths and weaknesses of licensed fighters. Most users when given the choice between a 92 OVR fighter and a 91 OVR fighter, would choose the 92 OVR fighter. The 92 OVR fighter may have a high Switch Stance attribute, which wouldn't have made a significant difference in the balance of the fight. This lead to a number of mirror or repeating matches with very high OVR fighters. UFC Stars allows us to group together a number of fighters while still holding to their authentic strengths and weaknesses. It allows users to know that their fighter can compete with a range of other fighters, rather than most users choosing the higher OVR fighter.

EA Sports UFC 4 features UFC middleweight champion Israel “The Last Stylebender” Adesanya and UFC welterweight contender Jorge “Gamebred” Masvidal as the game’s official cover athlete duo. The next game in the popular UFC franchise brings a new experience that puts the player and their created fighter at the center of the action. Featuring an all-new unified progression system, overhauled takedown and ground mechanics, more fluid clinch-to-strike combinations and the chance to experience the origins of combat sports in all-new environments, UFC 4 delivers the most polished mixed martial arts experience to date.

Players who pre-order the game now will get boxers Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua, along with a Backyard Customization Pack and Kumite Customization Pack containing cosmetic items. Additional benefits± are available for players who purchase UFC 4 through an in-game tile in UFC 3 or UFC 2, including10% off UFC 4, martial arts legend Bruce Lee and 500 UFC points. 

EA Access members can get a head start by jumping into the UFC 4 early access trial starting August 7. During this time, members will also have the opportunity to participate in pre-launch, UFC 4 challenges that unlock in-game currency.

EA Sports UFC 4 will be available for PS4 and Xbox One on August 14, 2020.