WWE 2K21 setbacks could affect the series until 2K23

WWE 2K21 has reportedly been cancelled, and now it looks like the series may not fully recover until the release of WWE 2K23.

WWE 2K20 was undeniably one of the biggest gaming blunders WWE has made in years, and the critical reception has been nothing short of disastrous.

The most recent installment of the WWE 2K series, and the continuation of a core game series that originated with WWF SmackDown! back in 2000, WWE 2K20’s release was marred by being inferior to the prior year’s installment and riddled with glitches.

As far as the sales of the game went, they were far from successful. WWE stated in a press release that “revenues decreased to $30.8 million from $32.8 million in the prior year quarter primarily due to lower video game royalties, which were driven by the Company’s franchise console game WWE 2K20.” [H/T Cultaholic]

Critically, WWE 2K20 was the worst reviewed WWE core series game of all time. Using Metacritic‘s aggregate reviews, the only copy of a WWE core series game to ever have an average lower than WWE 2K20 was the Nintendo Switch release of WWE 2K18 with 35/100. However, WWE 2K18’s releases on other consoles were all in the range of 65/100.

By comparison, WWE 2K20 received aggregate review scores on Metacritic of 43/100 for both the PC and PS4 releases, and a slightly better 45/100 for the Xbox One release.

On top of that, the even more telling rating is the average 1.2/10 that users gave the game on Metacritic. While there were various reasons for the blunder, WWE 2K20 just did not deliver in the way it should have.

WWE 2K21 already looked at risk just four months ago, with news of turmoil within the team working with 2K and budget cuts. Now, reporting from former WWE video game writer Justin Leeper indicates those issues have now seen the cancellation of WWE 2K21 entirely.

It’s worth noting that the reports four months ago about the game’s budget cuts and staff exodus also came from Leeper. Perhaps the only silver lining here is Leeper’s additional note that WWE may be releasing an entirely different game with a different developer, separate of the core WWE gaming series.

With no further details on that potential release, it’s hard to know if it could possibly make up for the blunders of WWE 2K20 or provide a new and unique avenue for WWE to take in the gaming world. It’s also important to note that, as of now, it’s not clear what the main contributing factors to this potential cancellation were.

The failure of WWE 2K20 certainly played a role, but the increased economic impact of COVID-19 could also have been a factor. On top of that, additional notes by Leeper in the same YouTube video that reported the cancellation of WWE 2K21 indicate that WWE 2K22 may already be hampered before it ever has the chance to get off the ground.

While it’s certainly true that having an extra year to produce WWE 2K22 and not having to deal with WWE 2K21 in the meantime could give them the chance to do the work they didn’t have the opportunity to do on WWE 2K20 and make things cleaner, Leeper is reporting that WWE 2K22 won’t even be on next-gen consoles.

The current generation of consoles, primarily PS4 and Xbox One, will be usurped as soon as this year’s holiday season by PS5 and Xbox Series X. Following WWE’s usual release schedule, WWE 2K22 wouldn’t release until fall 2021, which is nearly a full year after next-gen consoles will enter the gaming marketplace.

Things could certainly change between now and then, but right now the outlook isn’t good. If this reporting rings true with WWE 2K21 cancelled and WWE 2K22 not on next-gen consoles, we may not see WWE’s core game series recover until the release of WWE 2K23 in fall 2022.

Even that is presuming the subsequent struggles of WWE 2K22 don’t hamper the series or WWE’s relationship with 2K Games even further. Unfortunately for WWE fans, it may be time to find your favorite classic WWE game and get back to playing it before counting on WWE to produce another great installment any time soon.