This morning, Steel City Interactive released a February Development Update for their upcoming simulation boxing game eSports Boxing Club. Steel City Interactive have provided updates periodically over the past few months. Last month, we got a first look at the still-in-development character creator, which looks promising. That’s been the only big announcement so far in 2021. Today’s update outlines a few key items, including an upcoming character reveal and an update on launch plans.
New eSports Boxing Club Development Update
🚨ESBC Fans! Here's our February Development update; including major news that is taking the game to the highest levels in boxing!
*Combat Mechanics update
*6 Legends announcement plan
*Cleto Reyes
*Rival Boxing Gear
*World Champions Structure
*2nd Trailer & Launch Plans! pic.twitter.com/qNPaXvIRPC— Steel City Interactive (@SteelCityInt) February 17, 2021
The tweet starts by addressing two new major updates coming in the near future. First, Steel City Interactive has been upgrading ESBC’s combat system. As of today’s announcement, the new system is overhauled and implemented into the game. According to the update, SCI wanted to match the high expectations of its community, but also a new combat system needed to keep up with the game’s “revloutionary footwork system.”
Second, the update drops a hard date for some huge reveals. Starting February 18, SCI will be announcing six new roster slots, one each day. These slots will all be boxing Legends. Our ideal roster includes a ton of dream match-up fighters, so this is gonna be an exciting week of announcements.
Steel City Interactive also announced a few new partnerships. Boxing gear makers Cleto Reyes and Rival Boxing Gear are also joining eSports Boxing Club’s growing umbrella of licensing deals. Boxing database BoxRec is also joining the fold, presumably with some kind of stat integration. The announcement isn’t clear about BoxRec’s contribution, just that its partnership will help bring eSports Boxing Club closer to realism.
Launch Window and Teasers
Steel City Interactive does address their launch window in today’s update, though not in the way we’re hoping. SCI’s original plan was to release eSports Boxing Club in Early Access on steam in December 2020. However, the developers received a bit of funding last year, and expanded their team. As a result, the Early Access launch was pushed, to give the game more time to develop. The February Update talks about SCI’s plans to launch ESBC on Steam Early Access “in the coming months,” with a more concrete launch window announced in a future March update.
The update vaguely teases a lot of changes as well. For starters, SCI teases the launch of a new gameplay trailer Soon™. Steel City Interactive hinted that its in talks with “the biggest boxing organisations and management companies in the world,” with the classic disclaimer that they can’t talk about the details yet. The update also promises more roster announcements besides the six new Legends, which include “some of the biggest stars currently in the sport.”
Announcements of announcements are not the most exciting news, especially for fans who are hungry for a new boxing game after 10 years of waiting on a new Fight Night game. However, Steel City Interactive has been able to show off some huge progress, so personally, I’m willing to wait and see.
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