EA UFC 5 has its share of detractors, but as a person who loves MMA and video games, it has never left heavy rotation on my playlist.
Because of that, I’m looking forward to the rumored EA UFC 6 and, of course, the potential return of Fight Night. When EA UFC 6 sees the light of day (I’d guess we’re looking at the second quarter or third quarter of 2025 around International Fight Week), there is one feature that needs to be included, and that’s Ultimate Team.
I know many people hate Ultimate Team and other collector modes because they’re viewed as pay-to-win or microtransaction-drunk features that distort the way the game was originally designed to be played. However, that’s not the way an excellent collector mode functions. EA UFC can deliver a robust version of the concept.
The ideal and most objective collector mode should give users a realistic chance to play their way to every reward in the mode. However, for those who don’t have the time or aren’t willing to dedicate themselves to the grind, there should be a way to buy packs that they can open with the chance to pull the fighter cards, gear, boosts, and other content.
Furthermore, users should be able to purchase cosmetics for their fighters or teams. Consumers have to be honest with themselves. Businesses are supposed to create products and content designed to make money.
Most of us hate it when we hear about studios shutting down, but the ones with successful live services rarely see their doors close.
EA UFC is powered by one of the strongest publishers/developers in the industry, and the game is consistently updated and supported–even without a collector mode. There is a currency that can be purchased in the game for your career mode and to buy characters, but there are no cards–at least not anymore.
EA UFC 3 had Ultimate Team, but its direction was bound to fail from the beginning.
Rather than focusing the rewards and cards on the fighters and the various versions of them across their careers, the original iteration of EA UFC Ultimate Team was powered by moves and attribute enhancements. None of those rewards made you want to play Ultimate Team, nor did it piggyback on the action in the real-life UFC.
We need a UFC 300 version of Alex Pereira.
The best version of the mode should have packs attached to every Fight Week. The cards in those packs should have a version of anyone who is a part of the roster and is also scheduled to fight at the event. The cards for the winners of those fights should be boosted for a limited time to celebrate their victories.
Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez defeated Michel Pereira on Saturday in the UFC Vegas 99 event. A proper version of Ultimate Team would have had a boosted version of Hernandez with increased takedown attributes and cardio numbers after his smothering performance.
How awesome would a UFC 300 version of Max Holloway had been after he scored his epic KO win over Justin Gaethje?
Imagine this image below as the one on the card with some sort of electricity-based filter to make it look even more appealing.
EA could also produce themed packs similar to what they’re doing with Alter Egos with unique versions of top fighters. The Dana White Contender Series could offer unique alum cards and prospect cards for the roster’s most highly touted new members.
We’d have something special if the mode had a strong ranked head-to-head option along with fun alternatives like Stand and Bang and even concepts that function like Tekken Tag.
Hopefully, we will see EA revisit the Ultimate Team concepts and adopt these elements.
