Esports Boxing Club (ESBC – later renamed to Undisputed) is hoping to not only become a serious contender in the world of boxing video games, but to have its own esports structure too.
From football to sim racing and basketball, there are a host of competitive sports simulation games out there with their own tournaments for professional gamers, but there hasn’t been a big realistic boxing title since EA’s Fight Night Champion ten years ago.
Steel City Interactive, a games dev studio based in Sheffield, UK, is hoping to change that with Undisputed (aka Esports Boxing Club).
ESBC has turned heads withsome of the licenses it’s secured, with past and present fighters including Tyson Fury, Muhammad Ali, Sugar Ray Leonard, Wladimir Klitschko, Amir Khan, Katie Taylor and many more in the game.
The game will let players rise through the amateur system to try and secure continential and world titles. You can upgrade equipment, hire staff from trainers to nutritionists and promoters and more.
“There will be an esports structure and tournaments – with physical belts for some championships.”
On the esports front, an annual esports ESBC Tournament is planned. Players will have the chance to be crowned the EWBC Champion of the World, with the physical belt being sanctioned by the World Boxing Council.
Esports News UK reached out to a spokesperson for the game, who confirmed: “There will be an esports structure and tournaments – with physical belts for some championships.”
Full details will be revealed at a later date.
The Undisputed/Esports Boxing Club game has caught the attention of gamers and boxing fans, with videos on the dev’s official YouTube channel racking up more than a million views. The latest dev update can be seen here:
Why has it taken so long for a mainstream boxing game to be made?
On the ESBC game’s FAQ page, the devs answer: “The world of boxing is an incredibly complex environment. The concept of licensing a single deal with an overall body does not exist so we have to negotiate individual deals. However, this wasn’t going to detract us from trying to achieve the ‘impossible’.”
ESBC doesn’t currently have a release date. It was due to launch in early alpha this summer, however this has now been delayed.
Related article: Super Squad playtest and interview: UK dev Bad Fox Studios aims to shake up MOBA genre with new 5v5 team shooter
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
