THQ-UFC Deal Extended to 2018

IGN passes along the news:

The Ultimate Fighting Championship will be with THQ at least for the next eight years.

The publisher announced today it has extended its exclusive licensing deal with UFC parent company Zuffa, LLC to publish video games based on the brand through 2018.

"We're very excited to extend our relationship with Zuffa and the Ultimate Fighting Championship," said Danny Bilson, Executive Vice President, Core Games, THQ.

"Working closely together with Dana White and the incredible team at UFC, we plan to continue to deliver outstanding interactive UFC experiences to gamers around the world in all new ways, including social, mobile and brand extensions."

The deal includes rights to create games for all "current and next-generation consoles," PC, handhelds, wireless and certain social networks.

While this get the banner treatment the real news is that THQ is slowing the development cycle down from an annual title to an eighteen month development cycle. That decision came off the heels of UFC Undisputed 2010 sales being "below expectations".