The smack has officially been laid down on WWE 2K21. The long-running WWE 2K franchise had been stuck in a comfortably mediocre rut for years, but last year developer Yuke’s departed after two decades, leaving Visual Concepts in sole control of WWE 2K20. The results were bad. Very bad. That said, given WWE’s “profits before any other concern” philosophy, most expected we’d still get a game this year.
Surprisingly, that won’t be the case. During their most recent investor’s call, WWE announced “there’s not going to be a launch of a game this year.” No further details or hints about when we might see another WWE title were provided. That said, the official WWE 2K Twitter account did share this after the 2K21 cancellation was made public, hinting there may be something to look forward to after all.
We will be sharing details on the future of the WWE 2K franchise as well as some exciting news on Monday at 7:00 a.m. PT.
— #WWE2K20 (@WWEgames) April 24, 2020
Interestingly, former Smackdown vs. Raw writer Justin Leeper posted a video about WWE 2K21 being cancelled nearly a week before it was made official. That certainly lends his report a lot of credence, and according to him, 2K is publishing a “different kind of WWE game” from a developer other than Visual Concepts this year. You can check out his video, below.
In the end, this is probably for the best, as, again, WWE 2K20 was not good. Here’s what I had to say about the game in my 3 out of 10 review…
WWE 2K20 is a slap in the face. I’m sure plenty of passionate people worked on this game, but the fact that 2K Games was willing to release it in such a sorry state shows they believe WWE hardcores will blindly gobble up whatever they shovel at them. WWE 2K20 is ugly, broken, uninspired junk, written and presented with contempt for pro wrestling and its fans. I know buying the annual WWE game is a tradition for a lot of people, but I strongly urge you to reconsider this year. If 2K and Visual Concepts can’t do better than this, it may be time to hang up their boots.
If we do get a “different” WWE game this year, what would you want? I wouldn’t mind something more arcade-flavored, perhaps even a remake/remaster of a classic game. Just throw No Mercy up as a $10 download and I think a lot of fans would be happy.
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