WWE 2K22 was first announced back at WrestleMania in March. After the initial announcement, developer Visual Concepts hasn't shown much more of the game outside of a few small behind-the-scenes videos and some information about which WWE Superstars will feature. At SummerSlam, the WWE 2K22 team finally pulled back the curtain a little more and gave fans a better look at it in action.
Of course, this latest look at the game was completely cinematic. There was no actual gameplay shown in the 30-second teaser trailer for WWE 2K22. However, it did come with a few bits of important news for fans of the long-running series. Most importantly, WWE 2K22 has been pushed out of its usual Survivor Series release window (late November) to March 2022.
Many fans were left wondering why WWE 2K22 has been pushed back from its usual launch window. The answer for that is likely pretty complicated. One facet of the delay is likely the ongoing COVID pandemic, which has impacted developers and creators across the world, limiting their ability to get together and work on the game. Obviously, some of the work can be finished from home, but many teams are not set up to allow this. Most importantly, Visual Concepts needs to bring in wrestlers to scan them into WWE 2K22, while also using mocap wrestlers to put in new moves.
Why Was WWE 2K22 Delayed?
With all that likely slowed down by COVID, and with the WWE releasing several stars over the last few months, the delay could partially be to give the team time to get the roster ready to go. On top of the new WWE 2K22 roster, Visual Concepts is also promising a "redesigned engine," which could be taking longer than anticipated.
Considering how poorly received WWE 2K20 was, it makes sense that Visual Concepts wants to take its time and get WWE 2K22 right. It's also easy to imagine why the relationship between publisher 2K and the WWE could be strained after the last release. 2K probably wants to give Visual Concepts as much time as possible to deliver a product that lives up to fan and WWE expectations. Without that, 2K and Visual Concepts could potentially risk losing the WWE license.
Again, this is mostly speculation. Without direct insight from one of the parties, it's impossible to know the exact reasons behind the delay. This speculation is, however, backed up by a recent report from Sports Gamers Online. Their sources called the relationship between 2K and WWE "seriously strained," which falls in line with the idea that 2K wants to take its time to get this right and keep the WWE license long past the March 2022 release of WWE 2K22.