The True Cost of Building a Realistic Boxing Video Game
An Investigative Breakdown of Budget, Staffing, and What’s Missing at Steel City Interactive
“You can replicate anything you see in real life. There’s no excuse for not doing justice to boxing in video game form.”
— Poe, The Real Boxing Game Movement
1️⃣ Why This Investigation Matters
Boxing video games have been absent from the mainstream for over a decade. The ambition to capture authentic boxing realism—not arcade fighting—demands more than flashy graphics. It requires a full ecosystem of developers, animators, AI engineers, mocap specialists, and licensing deals to reflect the sport’s depth and culture.
This report breaks down what it would actually cost to build such a game, what kind of team is required, and how Steel City Interactive (SCI)—developers of Undisputed—stacks up against that standard.
2️⃣ Total Estimated Budgets (Across Scales)
| Scale | Dev Cost (Est.) | Marketing + Contingency | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indie-Plus Simulation (Limited licenses) | $6 – $15 M | $2 – $6 M | $8 – $21 M |
| AA Boxing Simulation (Mid-sized roster, solid online) | $18 – $45 M | $6 – $15 M | $24 – $60 M |
| AAA Boxing Simulation (Full realism & 200+ licenses) | $55 – $140 M | $25 – $70 M | $80 – $210 M |
3️⃣ Cost Breakdown by Category
🧾 Licensing (Boxers, Coaches, Promoters, Belts)
| Category | Indie-Plus | AA | AAA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boxers | $0.4 – $1.6 M | $2.4 – $9.6 M | $8.8 – $37.5 M |
| Coaches | $50 – 200 K | $150 – 500 K | $400 K – $1.5 M |
| Promoters/Managers | $50 – 150 K | $150 – 400 K | $300 K – $1.0 M |
| Belts (WBC/WBA/IBF/WBO) | $150 – 400 K | $400 K – $1.0 M | $1.0 – $2.5 M |
| Venues | $50 – 200 K | $150 – 600 K | $500 K – $2.0 M |
| Licensing Total | $0.7 – $2.6 M | $3.2 – $12.1 M | $11 – $44.5 M |
Likeness rights in boxing are fragmented. Each boxer, trainer, or sanctioning body negotiates independently—making authenticity extremely expensive.
🎥 Motion Capture & Voice Performance
| Category | Indie-Plus | AA | AAA |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mocap Stage & Operators | $0.2 – 0.6 M | $0.6 – 1.8 M | $1.5 – 4.0 M |
| Actors / Stunt Team | $0.25 – 0.6 M | $0.6 – 1.6 M | $1.2 – 3.0 M |
| VO & Commentary | $0.15 – 0.4 M | $0.4 – 1.0 M | $1.0 – 2.5 M |
| Total | $0.6 – 1.6 M | $1.6 – 4.4 M | $3.7 – 9.5 M |
🧑💻 Staff Salaries & Development Team (2.5 – 3 Years)
| Scale | Avg. Team Size | Annual Salary Load | 3-Year Cost |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indie-Plus | 15 – 25 | $2.6 – 4.8 M | $5.2 – 14.4 M |
| AA | 35 – 60 | $6.5 – 11.5 M | $13 – 34.5 M |
| AAA | 80 – 150+ | $14 – 28 M | $28 – 84 M |
🧪 QA, Research & Compliance
| Area | Est. Cost |
|---|---|
| QA Testing | $0.6 – 6.0 M |
| Compliance / Ratings | $50 K – 300 K |
| Research & Data Testing | $100 K – 600 K |
📣 Marketing, PR, and Launch Costs
| Scale | Cost Range |
|---|---|
| Indie | $1 – 3 M |
| AA | $3 – 8 M |
| AAA | $10 – 30 M |
4️⃣ The Full Developer Blueprint (Department by Department)
⚙️ Core Engineering & Technical
12 – 60 devs across gameplay, AI, physics, tools, graphics, netcode, and DevOps.
🎨 Art & Animation
14 – 68 artists across character, environment, lighting, mocap cleanup, crowd, and VFX.
🧠 Design Department
8 – 19 designers handling combat logic, AI tendencies, career structure, and UX.
🎧 Audio Department
5 – 10 sound engineers, dialogue editors, and composers.
🎥 Mocap & Cinematics
13 – 37 capture crew members (actors, techs, coordinators).
🧍 Production & QA
10 – 45 staff for scheduling, testing, and live ops.
💼 Business & Marketing
6 – 11 staff for licensing, PR, community, and legal/finance.
🧩 Ideal Staffing Totals
| Scale | Total Headcount | Duration | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indie-Plus | 65–75 | 2.5 yrs | Lean, fewer licenses |
| AA | 135–155 | 3 yrs | Comparable to Undisputed’s ambition |
| AAA | 270–310 | 3–3.5 yrs | Equivalent to EA Fight Night scale |
5️⃣ Ratio of Departments (Ideal)
| Department | % of Team |
|---|---|
| Engineering & Technical | 30–35% |
| Art & Animation | 25–30% |
| Design | 10% |
| Audio | 5% |
| Production & QA | 15–20% |
| Business & Marketing | 5–8% |
6️⃣ How Steel City Interactive (SCI) Compares
📊 Verified Facts
-
Employee count: ~70 staff (from official careers.steelcityinteractive.co.uk and PitchBook)
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Size category: Mid-tier indie studio
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Target scale: AA ambition with an indie-sized team
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Engine: Unreal Engine
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Project: Undisputed (boxing sim)
✅ Roles SCI Likely Has
| Department | Core Positions Likely Filled |
|---|---|
| Engineering | Gameplay programmers, physics, networking, tools |
| Art | Character/environment artists, animators, tech artists |
| Design | 1–2 designers (systems + gameplay) |
| Audio | Basic sound and commentary staff |
| Production | 1–2 producers, QA testers |
| Marketing/Community | Community manager, PR, media |
| Business | Owner/CEO (Ash Habib), management, some licensing coordination |
❌ Roles Missing or Understaffed
| Missing Department | Missing Roles |
|---|---|
| AI Design | Adaptive AI behavior and style specialists |
| Cinematic Team | No dedicated cinematic animators, lighting artists |
| Mocap Supervision | No in-house mocap director, minimal stunt coordination |
| Live Ops | No full live-ops support team |
| Localization QA | Likely outsourced or missing |
| VFX Team | Understaffed, limited punch FX and sweat shaders |
| Audio Post / VO Direction | Partial or external |
| Legal & Licensing | Likely external counsel only |
| Extended Production Hierarchy | Few producers for scope of work |
| Career/Systems Designers | Minimal specialization |
📉 Estimated Staffing Gap
| Category | Ideal AA Game | SCI Actual | Missing |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total Staff | 135–155 | ~70 | 65–85 missing |
| Core Engineering | 30 | 15–20 | –10 |
| Art & Animation | 30 | 15 | –15 |
| Design | 11 | 3–4 | –7 |
| Audio | 6 | 2 | –4 |
| Production/QA | 20 | 8–10 | –10 |
| Biz/Marketing | 7 | 4 | –3 |
| Mocap & Cinematics | 21 | 4–5 | –15 |
| Total Understaffed / Missing | ~75 roles |
7️⃣ What This Means for Undisputed
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SCI has passion, but their staffing footprint fits a small indie team trying to deliver an AA or early-AAA product.
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They appear to lack deep AI engineers, cinematic specialists, and full-time mocap infrastructure—key elements required for realism.
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Their “missing 60–80 roles” means a lack of redundancy and expertise in crucial subsystems (animation blending, referee logic, adaptive defense AI, fatigue systems, etc.).
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Many essential components are either outsourced, simplified, or omitted entirely, explaining the stripped-down features and inconsistent realism in Undisputed’s early access build.
8️⃣ Key Takeaways
| Observation | Impact |
|---|---|
| SCI’s current size (~70 staff) | Cannot match AA/AAA realism ambitions alone |
| Lack of specialized roles | Limits authenticity (AI, physics, cinematics) |
| Fragmented boxing licenses | Expensive and time-consuming, eats budget quickly |
| Realistic sim requires 120+ devs minimum | Otherwise, corners must be cut |
| Outsourcing helps, but lacks cohesion | Boxing needs internal consistency for realism |
| Full realism demands more money, time, and staff | Roughly $40–60 M minimum for credible AA realism |
9️⃣ Conclusion — The Real Price of Authentic Boxing
Building the world’s most realistic boxing game isn’t just about heart or hype.
It’s about structure, resources, and specialists—from AI engineers who understand strategy and tendencies to animators who capture fatigue, rhythm, and real-world physics.
Steel City Interactive deserves credit for trying, but the reality is that their team size (≈70) and budget limits make it impossible to deliver the true simulation boxing fans were promised.
To achieve the authenticity boxing deserves, a developer would need:
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130+ developers,
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$40–60 million in funding minimum, and
-
A clear focus on realism over quantity of names.
Until that balance exists, fans will continue to ask the same question:
“Why doesn’t any studio make a real boxing game anymore?”
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