The Def Jam series is one of EA's most unlikely success stories. The wrestling game series, which contained titles like Def Jam Vendetta and Def Jam: Fight for NY, initially saw the developers EA Canada and AKI Corporation band together to combine the worlds of hip-hop and pro wrestling and breathe fresh life into the wrestling genre (which was being dominated at the time by THQ's WWE-licensed products) before development was shifted over to EA Chicago for the last game in the series — 2007's Def Jam: Icon.
Even to this day, the series still has a pretty sizeable following online, with fans constantly calling on EA to release a remake, remaster, or sequel of some kind. However, EA has yet to take advantage of this, with the American rapper and actor Ice-T recently suggesting that this may have something to do with the cost of relicensing the music and the voice-acting (thanks Kotaku!).
Responding to a tweet containing a video of one of the games, Ice-T commented: "So many people ask me why this game hasn’t been brought back for the newer consoles. Maybe because they’d have to pay for voice and music rights again. Maybe?"
He then followed this up by suggesting that EA barely paid the voice talent anything for their work on the original games and implied the company would likely need to open their wallet and pay more to get everyone back: "Here’s the BIG problem... I don’t think they paid ANY of us ANYTHING to be in that original game… I know I didn’t get any type of substantial money. It’s was a situation where you didn’t want to be left OUT of the game. Well….. Yesterday’s price is not Today’s price..!"
So, in other words, it doesn't look likely that the Def Jam series will be making a comeback anytime soon.