The Future of WWE 2K Games Are In Question As Rumors Swirl Over Staff Departures
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WWE2K20 had probably the worst launch of a video game in 2019. It maybe the worst launch of a game in recent memory. Now, the future of the franchise looks uncertain.
The rumor mill is churning and saying the future for the relationship between WWE and 2K is uncertain at best.
https://youtu.be/icluPCghdA4
Justin Leeper, a writer for WWE video games in the late 2000’s early 2010’s, has been keeping fans of the series informed with his YouTube series. In his latest video he explains the last patch for 2K20 only fixes the hair of one wrestlers entrance – and not much else.
Then he talks about the people working on the games – and that’s where things get really alarming –
“I’ve heard about double digit number of people on the team who quit. They haven’t quit for other stuff. They just quit because it’s like, ‘man I don’t want this stink on me anymore. I don’t care what I’m doing. I’m leaving. I’m taking my stuff and going.’”
Yikes! … or should I say Yuke’s!
Part of the big problem with WWE2K20 is that co-developer Yuke’s split off from the WWE2K franchise last year, declaring that WWE2K19 woul dbe it’s last game with the franchise. This ended a long relationship between WWE and Yuke’s which started before the WWE was the WWE. Yuke’s started their relationship with the then WWF with the 2000 game WWF Smackdown! Yuke’s worked closely with THQ until THQ folded in 2013 and 2K came in a bought up the rights.
When 2K took over sole developer status with WWE2K20 Yuke’s left them with all of their digital assets – characters, animations, body and face scans. All the work that led to a mostly decent wrestling game, WWE2K19, were still there and accessible to 2K to make 2K20. So why are modders finding files that are associated with WWE2K18?
This whole game is a disaster and anyone who bought it should get a damn refund! At least we can hope for WWE2K21, right?
Wrong! Leeper claims that during his time working on the WWE games that any feature that gave the appearance of being less popular or less successful received less budget. So, chances are that WWE will spend less overall on WWE2K21 than 2K20 and anyone who has played 2K20 will know it will take more work to fix, not less.