The title of this article probably has a lot of yearly sports gamers nodding their heads in complete approval. After all, one of the biggest complaints most of them have about sports franchises is that not enough can be done within the span of a year. Sadly, THQ is taking this stance not because of what is possible within 12 months, but because the lack of sales behind UFC 2010 may have been too light to warrant a yearly release.

Speaking during the latest investor call, THQ CEO Brian Farrell, let it be known that the company is thinking about changing the development cycle to 15, 18 or even 21 months.

“We’re considering a longer development cycle – 15, 18, 21 months, rather than annually,” Farrell states. The company also plans to release the next installment of the franchise before March 2012, but it “depends on the scope of the game, the window and how we want to release the game.”

Oddly enough, UFC has two more titles releasing this year on the PSP and for PlayStation Move and Kinect. Of course, we won’t be able to see how the extra development time will help, but we’ll let you know in two to three years when it happens.