UFC 5 interview: Building an MMA game for PS5 & Xbox Series X

Published , by Ozzie Mejia

The time is coming to step into the Octagon once again with the fighters of UFC. However, UFC 5 promises to be something a little different. It's the first in the series to be built for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S, but it's also the first to use EA's Frostbite engine. To learn more about what players can expect, we spoke with EA's Nate MacDonald, Raman Bassi, and Jazz Brousseau.

"[Frostbite has] brought unrivaled graphic updates for this game," MacDonald told Shacknews. "Everything from the dynamic lighting and the overhauled character fidelity, to the realistic strand-based hair that's going to be in real-time gameplay for the first time in any of our EA Sports products, any of the clothing animations, improving our atmospherics, the Frostbite engine is really helping bring the action in the Octagon to life."

The team goes on to talk about the new blood effects, the gradual damage effects, the jump to an M rating, and the ways in which they hope to make UFC 5 a game that fighting fans can return to on a regular basis. We also make sure to ask about some of the advancements they were able to make on current generation console hardware, as well as whether the franchise may have a potential home on PC in the future.

To learn more about UFC 5, be sure to check out our recent preview. For more interviews like this, be sure to visit and subscribe to Shacknews and Shacknews Interviews on YouTube.