It started as a rumor but it was confirmed to be true very recently: there will be no WWE 2K21. The latest installment in the series, WWE 2K20, which looked promising with the addition of new features that included a career mode to follow the progress of a wrestler, did not meet the expected success. There were a lot of discussions about the game when it was released last October, but not really due to good reasons. WWE 2K20 had too way too many problems and bugs, and although most of them have been fixed since then, the damage was already done.
2K Games has decided to explain the reasons for the cancellation of the next installment in the WWE series in an open letter. We obviously imagine that the rather cold reception of the last installment has something to do with it, but it seems that the current situation also comes into play. Either way, the team seems determined not to duplicate what happened with WWE 2K20.
[...] we hear you and we know you want more from the franchise, so here’s what we’re going to do: we are applying what we’ve learned to the next WWE 2K simulation game with a renewed focus on quality and fun. As part of that commitment, we are extending the production timeline and will not be releasing a WWE 2K simulation game in 2020 (T2 fiscal year 2021). We want to ensure the development team at Visual Concepts can create a great game that will entertain grizzled WWE 2K veterans, as well as newcomers who want to climb through the ropes and step into the ring for the very first time.
However, the same open letter reveals that a new game is in development: WWE 2K Battlegrounds. Developed by Saber Interactive, to whom we owe NBA 2K Playgrounds, WWE 2K Battlegrounds is a spin-off that takes inspiration from other WWE games to offer simple but effective gameplay with a strong arcade orientation. It is scheduled to be released this fall, so WWE license fans will have a game to have a bit of fun this year. In parallel, if you have WWE 2K19, 2K Games has assured that they will maintain the game servers for the time being.
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