What Steel City Interactive does

Steel City Interactive is an independent video game studio headquartered in Sheffield, United Kingdom, founded in February 2020 by three brothers — Ash, Asif, and Asad Habib. The studio develops "Undisputed," described as the first major new boxing video game released in over a decade, targeting boxing enthusiasts and competitive multiplayer gamers globally. The company has grown from a founding team to over 100 employees as of April 2026, with operations spanning two UK offices in Sheffield and Leamington Spa and recruitment of veteran AAA developers. Steel City Interactive remains privately held and founder-owned, with no disclosed parent company or acquisition history.

The studio is built on Unreal Engine 5 and combines proprietary boxing simulation technology with UE5's native systems, including Chaos Physics for character animation and rigid-body dynamics, peer-to-peer networking with rollback netcode, and AI-driven opponent behavior using State Trees, Blackboards, and Perception systems. The product has been materially differentiated by exclusive content partnerships with the WBC, Ring Magazine, CompuBox, BoxRec, and major professional fighters, providing licensed likenesses, branding, and statistical data. These agreements are commercially central to the title's authenticity claim. The studio's product surface currently consists of the base Undisputed game, the Undisputed Championship Edition add-on co-published with PLAION in October 2025, and the in-development sequel Undisputed 2, which is being built from the ground up.

The business model is a hybrid B2C game publisher-developer: revenue is generated through one-time digital game sales and content packs on Steam, PlayStation, and Xbox storefronts, supplemented by subscription-based revenue share from Xbox Game Pass day-one inclusion and co-publishing economics with PLAION. Pricing is set by platform storefronts rather than directly by the studio. As of April 2026, support for the original Undisputed has been wound down to focus engineering resources on Undisputed 2, which is reportedly several years from launch and will face renewed competition should EA proceed with reviving its Fight Night franchise.

Name

Steel City Interactive

Legal name

Steel City Interactive Limited

Website

https://steelcityinteractive.co.uk

Company type

Private

Founded year

2020

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

51–100 employees

Short description

Steel City Interactive is a Sheffield, UK-based independent video game studio founded in 2020 that develops "Undisputed," the first major new boxing video game in over a decade. The studio serves boxing enthusiasts and competitive multiplayer gamers globally through PC and console platforms with over 100 employees.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Sports Simulation Video Games

NAICS

Software Publishers (513210)

SIC

Services-Miscellaneous Amusement & Recreation (7990)

akta.pro primary industry

AAA & Premium Game Studios (PC/Console) (MPAFAAAA)

akta.pro secondary industry

Sports/Racing Game Studios (MPAFAAAJ)

Keywords

• Boxing video game
• Sports simulation game
• Multiplayer fighting game
• Game development studio
• Unreal Engine development

Headquarters

HQ city

Sheffield

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices2 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Software

Cost components

Personnel, Technology or R&D, Marketing or Sales, Operations

Revenue model

1. Game sales and content packs: Steel City Interactive generates revenue through the sale of its boxing game 'Undisputed' and associated content packs such as the Undisputed Championship Edition, released in October 2025, which introduced cross-play, character customization, and new fighter content across major gaming platforms.
2. Platform subscription / day-one Game Pass releases: Undisputed (specifically Solarpunk, a different title) was released as a day-one title on Xbox Game Pass, indicating SCI participates in platform subscription models that provide revenue sharing with Microsoft for day-one inclusion.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Steel City Interactive is an independent video game studio that develops and publishes boxing video games, primarily "Undisputed," the first major boxing video game released in over a decade. The studio sells the game to consumers across PC (Steam) and consoles (PlayStation, Xbox), with additional content updates and a sequel in development.

Product overview

Steel City Interactive is an independent video game studio that has developed a unified boxing game product called Undisputed. The studio released the base Undisputed game as the first major new boxing video game in over a decade, featuring partnerships with major boxing organizations (WBC, Ring Magazine, CompuBox, BoxRec). The company subsequently released the Undisputed Championship Edition as an updated content package adding cross-play and customization features. The studio is now redirecting all development resources to Undisputed 2, a ground-up rebuild of the game using Unreal Engine, marking a transition from the original product line.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Undisputed A boxing video game, the first major new boxing game in over a decade, developed by Steel City Interactive in collaboration with boxing industry organizations including the WBC, Ring Magazine, CompuBox, and BoxRec. Features authentic boxing gameplay with detailed fighter representations and competitive multiplayer modes; sold to consumers on PC (Steam) and consoles (PlayStation, Xbox).
• Undisputed Championship Edition A major content update package for Undisputed, co-published by Steel City Interactive and PLAION, introducing cross-play functionality, character customization features, and new fighter content across major gaming platforms.

Named customers1 record

Segments2 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered core.

• PLAIONcoreChannel Partner/ Reseller/ Distributor · 30 October 2025PLAION partnered with Steel City Interactive to co-publish the Undisputed Championship Edition, a major content update introducing cross-play, character customization, and new fighter content on October 30, 2025.
• WBC (World Boxing Council)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSCI works in collaboration with the WBC, the world's leading boxing organisation, to bring an unprecedented level of detail and depth to Undisputed, providing official licensing and authenticity to the game's boxing content.
• Ring MagazinecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with Ring Magazine, one of the most prestigious publications in boxing, to bring authentic boxing content and branding to Undisputed.
• CompuBoxcoreTechnology or IntegrationCompuBox provides statistical boxing data that SCI integrates into Undisputed to ensure realistic and data-driven boxing statistics and performance tracking in the game.
• BoxReccoreTechnology or IntegrationBoxRec, the authoritative boxing records database, is partnered with SCI to bring real-world boxing records, fighter histories, and statistics into Undisputed for authenticity.
• World's biggest fighterscoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSCI has partnerships with many of the biggest fighters in boxing, bringing real-world boxer likenesses, names, and authentic content to the Undisputed game.

Scale indicators4 records

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Broad incumbents

• EA Sports (Electronic Arts): EA Sports publishes UFC and the dormant Fight Night boxing franchise, making it the most directly comparable incumbent in combat/boxing sports games with global distribution muscle that dwarfs SCI.
• Playground Games: UK studio developing the Forza Horizon series under Xbox Game Studios; comparable as a UK-based premium game studio now operating within Microsoft's ecosystem with similar platform distribution to SCI.
• Team17: UK-based game publisher with a portfolio of indie and sports/casual titles; comparable as a UK-headquartered gaming company providing publishing and distribution services similar to PLAION's role for SCI.
• Capcom: Developer of Street Fighter, a leading combat/fighting simulation franchise with strong esports presence; comparable as a major combat-sports specialist with recurring content updates and platform partnerships.

Direct peers

• Visual Concepts (2K Sports): Developer of the WWE 2K series for 2K Sports; operates in the same combat/boxing-adjacent sports simulation category with annual releases, licensing deals, and live-service monetization similar to SCI's model.
• NetherRealm Studios: Developer of Mortal Kombat and Injustice fighting games under Warner Bros; comparable as a studio focused on combat sports/fighting simulations with deep mechanics and recurring content updates.
• Milestone S.r.l. Italian developer specializing in motorsport simulation games (MotoGP, MXGP); highly comparable as a mid-sized European studio focused on a single sports simulation niche with licensing partnerships.

Emerging players

• Sumo Digital: UK-based independent game studio of similar size and stage developing multiple titles including sports-adjacent games; comparable as a similarly-sized UK indie with multi-project portfolio and platform partnerships.
• Rebellion Developments: UK independent studio developing and publishing multiple game franchises; comparable as a privately-held UK studio with diversified game portfolio and self-publishing capability.

Others

• PLAION (Koch Media): Austrian-based game publisher (formerly Koch Media) that co-publishes Undisputed Championship Edition with SCI; comparable as a distribution and publishing partner relevant to SCI's go-to-market motion.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/SteelCityInt

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles3 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors2 records

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Steel City Interactive