EA Lists 'Online Pass' Games, Confirms Fight Night

A new entry in Electronic Arts' boxing series Fight Night is in the works, EA COO John Schappert affirmed today while discussing the company's new "Online Pass" initiative.

"Tiger Woods PGA Tour, NCAA Football, Madden NFL, NHL, Fight Night and [EA SPORTS] MMA will feature Online Pass," said Schappert during a conference call today.

The "Online Pass" program sees Electronic Arts offer online multiplayer and "bonus content" to those that either buy the game new--and thus receive the one-time use registration code contained within its packaging--or pay an additional $10. Thus far, the program is limited to EA SPORTS "simulation games" on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.

The last Fight Night entry, Round 4, hit PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in June 2009. A new entry was previously mentioned by EA SPORTS head Peter Moore for a release sometime in 2011. Given that all of the other titles Schappert listed are due out by March 2011 and the company recently listed an unspecified "Fighting Title" for release between January 1 and March 31, 2011, it seems likely that's when we'll see Fight Night Round 5.