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Esports Boxing Club (ESBC) 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 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.
Boxing, like football and horse racing, is one sport that people regularly bet on. You can use online handicappers like docsports.com with virtual betting as well to get a better idea of who you should bet on.
The 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.
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Dom is an award-winning writer who 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 as well as Riot Games and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Association up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and as an esports consultant helping brands and businesses better understand the industry.
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