After the disaster that was WWE 2K20, many were probably wondering if WWE 2K21 would be affected at all. According to a WWE earnings call on Thursday, however, interim chief financial officer Frank Riddick confirmed that there won't be a game this year.
"There's not going to be a launch of a game this year," he said in response to a question about WWE 2K21's release.
The game has been something of an embarassment since it released in October 2019. It was torn apart by both critics and players for its countless glitches and bugs. There was even a time when the game became unplayable due to a Y2K-style bug. There have been numerous updates since release to work to fix these performance issues.
The title isn't even mentioned in the first quarter earnings press release (although good news for wrestling fans: WWE revenue is up 60% compared to the prior year quarter and digital video views are up).
The confirmation was first reported by outlets like IGN, although rumors have been swirling for a while that the game was not meant to be. Justin Leeper, a former writer on the WWE 2K franchise, said as much in a recent YouTube video. He added that "a different kind of WWE game from a different kind of game developer that's not Visual Concepts."
In case you're unaware, Visual Concepts took over the franchise from Yuke's, which had been developing licensed WWE or WWF games since 2000. It had been specifically working on the WWE 2K series since WWE 2K14. 2K didn't specify why Yuke's wasn't involved with WWE 2K20 but reports said that the studio was working on a rival wrestling IP:
2K Games has not yet commented on the statement. We've reached out for comment and we'll be sure to update if we hear back.
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