Much like Madden and many other sports franchises, WWE games have a long history. The upcoming entry in the franchise, WWE 2K22, has a lot to live up to as a result, but it also has a lot to live down. Many consider WWE 2K20 to be a huge letdown in the series, due to a plethora of technical, graphical, gameplay, and various other problems.
As such, when 2020 came about, there was no mainline WWE 2K game. This is reportedly to give developers enough time to come out with some genuinely innovative stuff, and that’s going to be a challenge. WWE 2K21 is the game that never was then, WWE 2K22 is the one with all the weight on its shoulders, but 2020 did see a release though. WWE 2K Battlegrounds covered 2020 if as only a smaller release to keep things going.
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WWE 2K Game Release History
With WWE 2K22’s delay to March 2022, the game has entered tradition-breaking territory. 2021 will be the only year in the franchise not to see a WWE game release. Even prior to the WWE 2K branding, WWE games have been released every year since 2000. And with the sole exception of the first release, WWF Smackdown, every game has released in North America in the fall. Some games were released later on in Japan, but for North America and most of the world, September – November was the time for a WWE game.
This means that not only is there a hole in 2021 where a WWE game would traditionally be, but WWE 2K22 is releasing much earlier in the year than 99% of the games in the franchise. How big of an impact this has remains to be seen. However, it’s worth mentioning that Call of Duty has broken from its typical reveal/release patterns in the past couple of years, and that changes when fans can expect Call of Duty news. If nothing else, it changes the typical flow of information and development, giving both fans and developers more time to consider its marketing.
WWE 2K22 may not be as dramatic as COD's change, but such a delay for a typically annualized title could mean big things behind the scenes. For anyone who played WWE 2K20, it’s clear the game needed to be delayed, but that wasn’t the case. This hopefully means a transition away from hitting these annualized releases to putting out good, memorable WWE games like those that were released throughout the early-to-late 2000s. If WWE 2K22 can deliver on that note, this delay may play some role in it, and it may impact many franchise entries for years to come.
After all, it wouldn’t make sense for WWE 2K23 to release next year after WWE 2K22 releases just a few months earlier. More time means more games, bigger improvements, and hitting new benchmarks than an annualized schedule just couldn’t deliver on. WWE 2K22 could be one of the important releases in the franchise as a result, and so it has to bring all that it’s got.
WWE 2K22 will release in March of 2022.
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