A former WWE Game writer has claimed WWE 2K21 has been cancelled before its announcement, and that 2K Games are planning to release a “palate cleanser” from another developer.
WWE 2K20 suffered a litany of glitches and bugs on launch. The situation has grown so bad, it seems Sony are offering refunds of the game on PlayStation 4.
It is worth noting while WWE 2K games used to be developed by Yukes, 2K Games ended their partnership in August 2019.
WWE 2K20 was instead developed by Visual Concepts, who also developed NBA 2K20, which has also been having similar outcry over unskippable adverts, and lootbox mechanics heavily focused on gambling style marketing (in a game rated E for Everyone by the ESRB, and PEGI 3 in Europe).
Now Justin Leeper, a writer on previous WWE games, has released a video claiming that WWE 2K21 is cancelled. You can find that video below.
https://youtu.be/4w_sRieIEiA
In summation, Leeper claims from “reliable sources” that WWE 2K21 is cancelled. He also cites the lack of any announcement of the game at this year’s WWE Wrestlemania event also lends credence to the game being cancelled.
He also agrees with the theories proposed by YouTuber VikingSizeGamer. These include the coronavirus pandemic hindering game production (including motion capture), WWE 2K20‘s poor reception demanding a new game engine, and competition from All Elite Wrestling and Virtual Basement, both expected to release in 2021.
Leeper also claims he had heard the game’s cancellation was “50/50” back in December 2019, while in January 2020 it was “medium speed ahead” and the game would release.
He feels that his most recent sources, combined with how late an expected announcement would be, means it is likely the game has been cancelled. However, he feels the cancellation is a good thing, with 2K Games taking the year to re-asses development of the next WWE 2K title.
Further, Leeper claims WWE 2K22 would not be for next generation consoles, such as the PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X (both consoles set to release Holiday 2020). Instead, the game will remain on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, along with Windows PC.
Finally, Leeper does hint that 2K Games may releasing “a different kind of WWE game” to act as a “palate cleanser.” This is allegedly from a developer that is not Visual Concepts, though Leeper avoids elaborating. “I’ve been around long enough to know that you don’t wanna make marketing people mad.”
Leeper also offered insight into the issues WWE 2K20 suffered. While not involved with the game’s development, his alleged sources claimed that a “double digit number” of people quit the development team, the game had a poor budget, and that 2K Games were attempting to distance themselves from that game’s poor reputation.
We will keep you informed as we learn more.
Image: WWE 2K20 Steam
