According to the latest information shared in the company’s first-quarter earnings report, WWE has recently signed a deal to develop a new wrestling-based RPG. The WWE first-quarter earnings call took place yesterday, and the transcription (by SeekingAlpha) reveals some interesting insights into the company’s plans for pushing its brand further into the gaming space.
WWE Chief Brand Officer Stephanie McMahon has also made reference in the call to the “commercial and critical success” of its most recent wrestling game, WWE 2K22, which was developed by 2K Games.
We were extremely pleased with the relaunch of our premium video game console franchise, WWE 2K. After taking a little more than a year off to improve the game engine, we worked hand in glove with our partners that take to interactive, listen to our customers and fans and earned back their trust by delivering a game that exceeded their expectations. WWE 2K22 was a commercial and critical success with the highest Metacritic scores on both Xbox and PlayStation platforms in franchise history with over 5.6 million hours viewed on Twitch to date.
Stephanie McMahon, Chief Brand Officer, WWE
In a somewhat more interesting revelation, McMahon continues to discuss the company’s ongoing commitment to reaching new ‘next-gen’ audiences (those she describes as being 34 or younger) through gaming. With gaming set as a clear priority for the organisation, WWE is also reporting positive results from their mobile games, and McMahon also dropped into the conversation that the company has also just signed a new deal to make a wrestling RPG.
We continue to see strength in the performance of our mobile games with 2K and Scopely, SuperCard and Champions. And recently signed a new deal in the role-playing game space that will be announced soon.
Stephanie McMahon, Chief Brand Officer, WWE
In what guise or format this new wrestling RPG will manifest itself, remains to be seen. Presumably, we’ll hear more in the upcoming announcement, as explained by Stephanie McMahon. However, this will definitely be interesting news for WWE fans and gamers. You can check out the full transcript of the call over on Seeking Alpha for more insights.
