It comes as no surprise to us as we had already reported that retailers were not seeing the sales numbers that they expected from the recent release of UFC 2010. Now, other analysts are confirming what we already knew. In addition to the slower than expected sales, many retailers are overstocked on the title, which has prompted sales reducing the price of the recently released title to as low as $39.99 at some retailers in North America.

Until NPD releases the actual numbers in July, the news has to be a big shock for THQ, who sees that the UFC is actually doing very well and is more popular than ever. The slower than expected sales means that it will be up to other THQ titles to pick up the slack created by the slow sales of UFC 2010: Undisputed. THQ does have some high profile tiles in development that could ease the sales pressure, but the publisher will need good performance from those releases as well as the other releases that it has upcoming.

The latest talk confirms what we have known already: that the release and success of Red Dead Redemption does appear to have impacted the sales of UFC 2010 more than anyone could have expected. It is not only UFC 2010 that is suffering from slower than expected sales; both Split/Second and Blur have also been suffering slow sales, but not to the extent that UFC 2010 is. Our retail sources tell us that they didn’t buy as many copies of Split/Second and Blur; so while sales are slow, they are not in as far on those titles. Still, despite the fact that they don’t have as many copies sitting on the shelf, we expect that some retailers will try to jump start the sales on these two titles by putting them on sale for $39.99, as well.

Right now, none of the publishers of these three titles want to talk numbers or the impact that the diminished sales are having. The best news is that the titles are all still selling, so sales have not totally stalled yet. We suspect, however, that the sales that the retailers are using to jump start the momentum on these titles will not lead to a permanent price reduction just yet. The publishers will evaluate the numbers once they are released in July and then figure out how they will respond.

Whispers that we heard today do suggest, however, that planning additional downloadable content for all three titles might be influenced by the slower than expected sales. While we have only heard vague rumors of additional content for all three titles, if the titles are not selling well enough, it could lead to the publishers suspending work on any DLC for them that they might already have in development. Look for THQ, Activision, and Disney to be put on the spot to answer questions about the possibility of additional content for these titles during E3.