In short
Thai independent studio SQUADX is developing Muay Thai Xtreme, the first fighting game built entirely around Muay Thai, which Rising Tide will publish on Steam in early 2027. The game is playable from October 30 to November 1 at gamescom asia x Thailand Game Show in Bangkok, where a real ring hosts live tournaments, while the MTX STRYK online creator tournament wraps up on October 31 with $5,000 on the line. The article reconstructs the context of the discipline, from training camps to Lumpinee, and analyzes the mechanics, the regional styles and the “No Surrender” Pre-Season.
The first Muay Thai simulator made in Thailand is born where the discipline actually lives: in the training camps and the historic stadiums. The game comes to Bangkok with a ring set up at the trade show and a $5,000 tournament.
I have been following combat sports for years, watching events live whenever I can. I have even dedicated a novel to MMA, Uno di Tre – Lucky Bet Boys, published by Bertoni Editore in 2025. When a fighting game picks a real discipline and puts it at the center of everything, my interest is immediately sparked. That is the case with Muay Thai Xtreme and Muay Thai.
The genre was born in arcades, with one-on-one duels where reflexes and distance management matter. It established itself with Street Fighter II in 1991. Then Virtua Fighter, in 1993, brought combat into three dimensions. Alongside the fantasy fighters, a second line developed: that of simulators of real sports such as UFC: Undisputed and the Fight Night series. In both lines, Muay Thai has almost always appeared on the margins, as the style of a single character. Examples range from Sagat, boss of the first Street Fighter in 1987, to Joe Higashi, who in Fatal Fury in 1991 was the first playable Muay Thai fighter. Or the discipline has appeared in the menu of an MMA game.
Muay Thai Xtreme – MTX – reverses this proportion: the Thai independent studio SQUADX is developing a multiplayer fighting game built around a single sport, Muay Thai. Rising Tide will publish it on PC via Steam, with a global launch planned for early 2027. The wishlist is already open and, after the cinematic trailer that revealed the project, a new trailer shows the first gameplay sequences.
The game will be playable at gamescom asia x Thailand Game Show in Bangkok, with public access from October 30 to November 1. Ahead of the show, SQUADX and Rising Tide have organized the creator online tournament MTX STRYK, with qualifiers on October 17 and 24 and a final on October 31, with the first MTX STRYK Championship Belt up for grabs.
From the training camp to Lumpinee
In Thailand, Muay Thai lives above all in the training camps and the historic stadiums. There are hundreds of training camps: some gladly welcome foreigners, while others focus on Thai fighters. Many children begin learning the discipline around the age of six or eight, often growing up in families where someone already fights.
From that age, training becomes part of the daily routine, with two sessions a day for five or six days a week and two- or three-hour sessions. At fifteen, fighters can step onto the ring in official bouts, and by sixteen or eighteen many already have a name among enthusiasts.
Around the camps have grown the brands that enthusiasts know well. Fairtex was founded in Bangkok in 1958 and is today the official glove partner of ONE Championship, while Yokkao runs a training center in Bangkok open every day from 7:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m., following the rhythms of real Thai camps.
At the top of the system are the two historic stadiums of Bangkok. The Rajadamnern hosted its first bout on December 23, 1945: the venue was still open-air and only received a roof in 1951. The Lumpinee opened on December 8, 1956, and the Thai army runs it, with a new venue on Ram Intra Road since 2014. The title of champion of either stadium is the most prestigious recognition in the discipline, and among the names who have won it are Samart Payakaroon and Dieselnoi Chor Thanasukarn; among foreigners, very few have taken the Lumpinee belt. Even Ramon Dekkers, one of the most celebrated, never won it. Betting goes on nonstop around the ring, and each stadium holds a special license that allows it.
Today ONE Championship dictates the fight calendar above all, the promotion headquartered in Singapore founded in 2011 by Chatri Sityodtong and Victor Cui. Born as an MMA organization, ONE has put Muay Thai at the center of its programming. Today it resembles the UFC, because alongside Muay Thai and kickboxing bouts it also offers MMA and wrestling-only matches, that is grappling. Since August 2022 it has organized events at Lumpinee. Since 2023 it has run the ONE Friday Fights: Friday events that pit young Thai talents against international athletes. Often at stake is a contract with the promotion. The Muay Thai bouts are in a clear majority: ten out of thirteen on the night of October 9, 2026, the 174th edition. At the end of 2025, ONE renewed its agreement with Lumpinee for two years, after an initial three-year contract.
Alongside ONE remain the stadium nights, such as the Yokkao Wednesday events at the Rajadamnern, and the provincial bouts, where Thai fighters begin competing close to home before aiming for the big Bangkok stadiums, where the purses are higher.
SQUADX and technique as the starting point
SQUADX is a small independent team based in Thailand, and Muay Thai Xtreme is its first project. The studio has chosen to bring Muay Thai to an international audience within a combat system that the player learns and adapts to the different situations on the ring, with a simulation-oriented approach, and as base material it uses the real techniques of the Mae Mai Muay Thai, the traditional repertoire that in the standard canon counts fifteen fundamental techniques.
Players take on the role of the nak muay, as Muay Thai practitioners are called, and step onto a ring where weight and the timing of strikes matter: the studio has worked on those two elements so that the action flows naturally and leaves room for different techniques depending on the moment. The game runs on Unreal Engine 5, and the studio also handles the technical side of online matches, because SQUADX developed in-house the anti-cheat system that protects them.
Working alongside the studio is Rising Tide, the game’s publisher, which handles the presence at gamescom asia and the creator program. Before launch come the Pre-Season and the STRYK tournament. Details on the fighters have been postponed to a later announcement.
The importance of timing
In Muay Thai, the art of eight limbs, fighters play out every bout on eight points of contact: two fists, two elbows, two knees, and two shins. That counts against the fists alone of Western boxing. MTX brings this variety into the combat system. Every type of strike has a precise purpose, and the technique to use changes with the distance from the opponent and the situation on the ring.
In MTX combat, the moment you act matters. Those who mash buttons or chain long combos soon hit a limit: the game asks you to decide every time whether to attack or defend, and at which instant to do so.
The system revolves around distance management and the balance between attack and defense. The player reads the opponent’s behavior and decides whether to wait or change approach, and the game punishes a misreading immediately, because pressure on the ring punishes every misstep.The stated goal is the tension of a professional bout with something significant at stake.
Three mechanics for reading the bout
The Decisive Move is the game’s special attack and unlocks when the player creates the right opening during the bout, so it does not activate at will: it stems from reading the fight and the pressure exerted on the opponent, which set up the moment of the strike. The moves are inspired by traditional techniques, and a successful reading of the fight can end the bout with a single blow.
With the Weak Posture, the player watches the opponent’s guard in search of an opening: when the player finds one and hits it with a clean strike, the player wins the round.
The Corner Pressure brings the clinch and ring control into the game. With the opponent pushed into a corner, the player locks them in the clinch and dominates the space around them, a situation that in real Muay Thai opens the way for knee and elbow strikes at close range.
Four schools, four ways of fighting
The player can train in four regional styles: Muay Chaiya, Muay Korat, Muay Lopburi, and Muay Tha Sao. In tradition, the four schools have recognizable origins and traits: Muay Chaiya, born in Chaiya, in Surat Thani province, and spread in the south, distinguishes itself through its compact guard and counterattacks; Muay Korat, from Nakhon Ratchasima, in the northeast, through heavy kicks and punches, including a wide punch known as the buffalo swing fist; Muay Lopburi, from the province of the same name, in the center, through agility and feints; Muay Tha Sao, from Uttaradit, in the north, through the speed of its strikes.
Each style has its own approach to combat and its own training system, with challenges that change from one school to another. Each style has its own strengths and combinations, built on real techniques: two fighters who choose different schools face each other with different game plans. SQUADX will add new tactical styles to those already presented in the content roadmap that starts with the Pre-Season.
From the alley to the stadium
The fights take place in arenas inspired by real Muay Thai venues, from gyms carved out of alleys to the rings of the championships. Among the arenas there is one with exposed wooden beams and MTX banners hanging from the ceiling. Another is a stadium lit in green with the words “No Surrender” on display. The same phrase gives its name to the Pre-Season and appears next to the logo in the game’s promotional artwork.
The two arenas shown so far cover the extremes of the path: the gym carved out of the alley and the big stadium.
A fighter built from scratch
The player builds from scratch the fighter who steps onto those rings. The character creator allows you to define appearance, gear, posture, and entrance onto the ring, with sliders for facial features and color palettes, and SQUADX has designed it to reflect in the fighter the gym they belong to and the way their creator fights.
The choices follow the logic of the four schools: posture changes with the style, because each has its own guard, and you can already glimpse the difference in the ring entrance. Appearance and gear complete the nak muay’s identity from one arena to the next.
Private lobbies, leaderboards, and Ultimate Fight
In the online ranked matches, players from all over the world face each other and play to climb the global leaderboards. To train with friends there are casual matches, at low pressure, and private lobbies allow a gym or a community to organize its own tournaments and challenges.
Ultimate Fight is the mode where you start as a fighter at the beginning of their career and grow by training and competing, and among the game’s features there is also single player, while details on the career structure will arrive later. On Steam the game is in English, both in text and voice, with Family Sharing enabled and in-game purchases.
The “No Surrender” Pre-Season and post-launch content
Before the full launch, you can take part in the “No Surrender” Pre-Season, an event with seasonal challenges and exclusive rewards, and the Pre-Season cosmetics will not become available again after the game’s release. The MTX website links to the Steam wishlist and to a Roadmap section.
The Pre-Season opens a longer path, which includes new tactical styles and additional arenas. More events follow, along with an expanded progression and career system, while after launch come seasonal content and a Battle Pass with mostly cosmetic rewards, which provide no combat advantages.
A ring in the middle of the trade show
gamescom asia x Thailand Game Show takes place at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok from October 29 to November 1, 2026. The event has the theme “The Heart of Gaming” and a space spread across four halls. The business area occupies October 29 and 30, from 10:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. in the Plenary Hall, on the first level. The organizers expect more than 70 speakers, including John Romero, and with Capcom and Bandai Namco.
The public area opens from October 30 to November 1, from 9:30 a.m. to 8:00 p.m., in halls 1 to 4 on level G. It is in this window that MTX is playable at the Rising Tide stand. The space is built around a Muay Thai ring. It hosts live tournaments throughout the duration of the show.
STRYK, the tournament that brings creators to the ring
MTX STRYK is the game’s first official competitive campaign. Players and creators from several countries receive an Exclusive Tournament Build to try MTX ahead of launch and compete online for regional titles and special in-game prizes.
The organizers play the regional qualifiers on Saturday, October 17, and Saturday, October 24, and the finalists fly to Bangkok for the final on Saturday, October 31, the second day of the public area. Bangkok is five hours ahead of Italy until October 24, and six from the 25th, when Italy switches back to standard time.
The final puts $5,000 up for grabs, and the organizers cover travel and accommodation for finalists coming from outside Thailand. The winner receives the first MTX STRYK Championship Belt in front of the crowd of the country where Muay Thai was born. The tournament features fighting game creators and variety streamers from Asia, Europe, and North America, and registration closed on October 1.
The name derives from “strike”, with a Y in place of the I, and gives the competition a distinct brand from that of the game. The organizers intend to turn it in the future into an esports platform for MTX, and they plan more tournaments around the global launch.
Waiting for the bell
After decades spent on the margins of the genre, Muay Thai for the first time has a fighting game that starts from it: not one style among many in the selection menu, but the entire ring, with its clinch, its distance, and its timing. What remains to be seen is what is left of a discipline when it moves from outside the ring to the buttons of a controller, and SQUADX and Rising Tide have already set the dates: the October qualifiers and the Bangkok final will deliver the first live matches, the Pre-Season will open to the first players, and the launch in early 2027 will decide the rest. Those who want to follow it have a simple way not to lose step: the Steam wishlist.
Finally, there is a detail that those who watch Muay Thai from the outside can appreciate: MTX’s first public appearance takes place in the country where the discipline lives every day. There are the training camps that start early in the morning and the stadium nights. Not every fighting game debuts on home turf. MTX starts from a real ring, in the middle of the crowd the discipline calls home: from there on, we will see whether the eight limbs are enough in a video game too.
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