The WWE 2K titles have seen a tumultuous last 5 years. With average review scores ranging from 66 in 2K18, to the bottoming out period of 43 in 2K20, and a period of resurgence in 2K22, the franchise has endured some significant ups and downs with WWE 2K21 cancelled, former lead developer Yukes parting ways with 2K, and the WWE, and the aforementioned fluctuations in critical (and public) reception. Today, despite recent success in the form of WWE 2K22, some less positive news, with it being announced that servers for both WWE 2K19, and the disastrous WWE 2K20 both being switched offline from June 30.
Today, in a tweet from the official @WWEGames Twitter Account, it was announced to the WWE 2K community that “On June 30, 2022, we will sunset support for WWE 2K19 & WWE 2K20 servers”. The decision was made in order to focus development totally on the resurgent WWE 2K22, by turning off support for all online functions “such as online matches & Community Creations.”
The development of WWE 2K titles is still quite fickle. From the poor reception of the soon-to-be offline-only 2K20, to the aforementioned cancelled 2K21, which resulted in the creation of the not overly well-received WWE 2K Battlegrounds to fill the gap. It’s interesting to see the laser-like focus upon 2K22, given that 2K22 itself was delayed into calendar year 2022, and the usual need to quickly pivot development towards the next annualised entry in the franchise. Such is the traditional way of sports in video games.
Despite the many ups and downs, it seems the future of 2K developed WWE is once again secure, with the company having clearly fended off a play from EA to assume control of the WWE licence. With some temporary security, it will be interesting to see how long it will take before we begin to hear rumblings of WWE 2K23, or even a new entry in the Battlegrounds sub-genre, which, while received incredibly well, does provide a foundation for further work with the licence that complements the core product.
With this news in hand, we’ll now just have to wait and see what is in store for WWE 2K22 and beyond.
