Fans grappling with whether to purchase WWE 2K22 may have another reason to hesitate, as a report from Sports Gamers Online details. The team behind the WWE 2K series has spent a troubling past few years of developing games. WWE 2K20's legacy endures as that of an unenjoyable mess of glitches, and WWE 2K21 failed to release at all.
Visual Concepts came out with a new trailer for the game during the WWE's SummerSlam pay-per-view, showing the likes of Roman Reigns, Finn Balor, Rhea Ripley, and others in action. While short in length, the trailer finally promised wrestling fans the release date of WWE 2K22, which is in March of next year. This marks a delay from the usual November window when the WWE hosts the usual brand-on-brand warfare that is Survivor Series. But the delay may also underscore WWE's recent release of countless wrestlers throughout the year. WWE has future endeavored even the likes of top names like The Big Show, Aleister Black, Ruby Riott, and Braun Strowman, with several of those names making their way to rival wrestling promotion AEW. Since then, a report has surfaced of WWE asking Visual Concepts and 2K Sports to delete these wrestlers from the game's roster.
The article by Sports Gamers Online highlights the recent tensions between developers and their WWE contractor, though neither entity has verified the report at this time. In the article, several unnamed developers describe the WWE 2K22 workplace as racked with pressure, understaffed, and underfunded. It has gotten to the stage where the WWE has threatened to end their licensing agreement with 2K Sports. One source claims the game's roster, "is shaping up to be the most outdated roster a game has seen." WWE has presumably tasked Visual Concepts with updating the roster accordingly, hence the delay of the game. It gives the developers an extension to remove and replace any number of these superstars.
Unfortunately for fans of wrestling and the WWE 2K series, Sports Gamers Online suggests the game will probably lack more wrestlers beyond fan-favorite Daniel Bryan, for whom reports also suggested would not be in the game. This most recent report describes a toxic workplace for 2K Sports and Visual Concepts workers, one of them referring to it as an environment where "second-guessing happens constantly."
It remains to be seen how much of an impact the dozens of WWE releases will have on the roster of WWE 2K22. These delays could very well backfire on the WWE, 2K Sports, and Visual Concepts, despite the developers taking transparent steps to prevent another WWE 2K20. If the rumors prove true, fans will undoubtedly remember the removal of so many wrestlers this late in development as a petty move, and even more disappointing given the popularity of many of these superstars.
Source: Sports Gamers Online