EA Sports UFC 4 will be the first game in the series not to feature the commentary of Joe Rogan, creative director Brian Hayes has announced.

For the first two editions, Rogan reprised his real life role of colour commentator on the game, whilst in EA Sports UFC 3, his commentary lines were taken from real UFC fights and spliced together.

Hayes told Gamespot that Rogan’s dislike of providing his own voiceover for the games was the main reason behind his omission.

He said: “He was open with us from the very beginning that he hated his experience of doing voiceover on previous iterations of other UFC games, and things were no different for us.

“He hated doing voiceover on these games as well. That has nothing to do with us in particular, or, you know, our games versus other games.

“He just does not like sitting in a booth reading lines for hours at a time.”

Rogan began working for UFC in 1997 as a backstage and post-fight interviewer, before taking on the role of colour commentator in 2002.

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He launched his own podcast ‘The Joe Rogan Experience’ in December 2009, and signed a multi-year licensing deal with Spotify in May of this year, valued at an estimated $100 million.

The 52-year-old has previously talked about providing commentary lines on the podcast.

Hayes explained: “He hasn’t been shy about saying this on his own podcast; like, he hates doing it.

“If you’re not a person that (can) mentally get into that space, then I can see how it could be a very, you know, challenging, potentially mind-numbing experience for a certain type of individual.”

The new commentary team for EA Sports UFC 4 will consist of UFC’s Jon Anik and former light heavyweight and heavyweight champion Daniel “DC” Cormier.

Cormier is ranked #1 in the UFC heavyweight rankings, and will take on the role for the first time in the game series.

EA Sports UFC 4 launches in August for both PS4 and Xbox One. Those who pre-order the game can unlock Tyson Fury and Anthony Joshua as playable fighters.