2K Announces Public Split From Long-Time WWE 2K Studio Yuke’s
Pro wrestling games are a massively popular genre. Like sports games, WWE has a licensed video game that receives a new entry each year. Since 2013, that has been the WWE 2K series. When original publisher THQ went into bankruptcy, the WWE license found new stewards in game industry giant 2K. 2K gave the series the same naming as its sports games and WWE 2K14 was a well-received entry in the franchise, with things looking up for the series since then. However, once the current consoles were released and WWE 2K15 came out, some players complained at the lack of new improvements and the removal of features like Story Creator. Fast forward to now and fans aren’t the only ones wanting something new, as it has been revealed that WWE 2K dev studio Yuke’s is parting ways with publisher 2K.
In a statement to Video Games Chronicle, 2K Games said that WWE 2k20 will be developed by Visual Concepts, an in house studio that has worked alongside Yuke’s on the WWE 2K games since 2K14. Yuke’s will reportedly still provide support for their engine tech developed for WWE 2K20, but the developer will be pursuing a new original wrestling IP moving forward. Whether this will be a new fictional wrestling league or another license is unknown at the moment. But, for the first time in 20 years, Yuke’s will not be making WWE games. Yuke’s cited a disappointment in having to put new games out on a rigid, yearly time schedule. Producer Hiromi Futura spoke with VGC in an interview, revealing that “We are trying to launch a new wrestling game.”
Of course, we will retain the WWE team, but we are also aware that our creators are beginning to lose sight of their passion and confidence and becoming focused only on completing assigned tasks. That’s not the direction Yuke’s wants to go in. So, in order to compensate, we’re going to start a new wrestling project.”
The rumor mill has been abuzz with speculation that this new wrestling game will be licensed from newly founded wrestling company, All Elite Wrestling. The company will be debuting a weekly show on TNT this October, the first competitor to WWE’s weekly shows in 20 years. Perhaps the new company will also seek to compete with WWE in the video game business as well? We probably won’t know for a while, though we’ll see how the latest 2K game shakes out when WWE 2K20 releases on October 22nd for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
Are you excited to see what Yukes’ new wrestling game will be? Are you hoping it’s an AEW game or something new? Let us know in the comments below! Be sure to follow us on Twitter, Like us on Facebook, and check out the latest news from Don’t Feed The Gamers:
Colin Regan239 Posts
Colin is a freelance writer for DFTG with previous bylines at other media outlets such as Twinfinite.
