Iron Phoenix was developed by Interserv, a Taiwanese company who had previously developed several MMO titles in Asia.[4] It was produced by Sammy Studios, who merged with Sega midway through development in October 2004.[5][4] Producer Tim Hess stated that development drew from an "extensive library of martial arts moves" recorded in motion capture from martial artists in Taipei.[6]
The game was designed primarily for multiplayer gameplay on Xbox Live,[7][8] and the developers integrated features from the recent Live 3.0 update, including the creation of clans, tournaments and video messaging.[8]
Iron Phoenix was announced by Sammy in March 2004.[4] Publisher Sammy Studios showcased the game in their booth at E3 in May 2004.[9][10]
Two arenas were available as downloadable content via Xbox Live for free[11]
The game was rated in October 2004 by the German rating system USK, though no German release materialized.[12]
