Post by x-champ-x on Mar 18, 2013 18:43:59 GMT -5
www.fightinggamenation.com/index.php?go=article&id=33
The last few months have been a scary time for fans of WWE Games
everywhere. THQ went into bankruptcy and the company closed its doors.
While most gaming franchises quickly found a new home, the WWE Games
brand remained ominously silent.
With several fans left stunned and confused, we were only left to
speculate, where would the WWE Games franchise land? EA Sports?
Activision? Ubisoft? You name it, and it was guessed and debated upon,
luckily for WWE Games and all its fans though it landed exactly where it
needed to be, Take Two Interactive in its 2K Sports Division.
For those unaware, 2K Sports is best known for its NBA 2K series and
great previous version of its NFL series that met its untimely end in
2005. The greatest thing about Take Two landing the WWE Games franchise
is that the THQ WWE Team and the fine folks at Yukes all came along for
the ride and it was absolutely the best thing that could have been done
for all parties involved.
Now I know there are some people out there that wanted the WWE
franchise to be restarted from scratch but honestly that would have been
one of the worst things that could’ve ever happened to the WWE Games
community, and here’s why…
A wrestling game engine is not an easy thing to build from scratch.
The WWE Games engine everyone has been used to playing on for well over
a decade now is designed and owned by Yukes. For any company to
attempt to build a new engine from square one would have been quite the
uphill battle.
A fan base that has come to expect a WWE game once a year would be
quite agitated and angry when they realize that a new WWE game from that
company would have been at least a few years away. Furthermore, when
that title finally did release, it would be an extremely bare bones
product with nowhere near the amount of content the WWE Games fan is
used to getting. TNA Impact from Midway is a perfect example of that.
With Yukes and the THQ team landing at 2K Sports we will actually
get WWE ’14 on schedule this Fall. If you look at previous timelines it
should be evident that before THQ went bankrupt WWE ’14 was well into
development. Now with the backing of 2K Sports and Take Two behind it,
one could only imagine that a bigger budget will be put into the
franchise as well. There is no way 2K will let the first WWE Game with
their name on it not be a home run, and will probably be willing to
spend the cash to make it, as CM Punk would say…the best in the world!
Now I know a lot of people have some crazy demands for WWE ’14
already under the 2K Sports banner, but I would like to remind you all
that with this game already being well into development I wouldn’t TRULY
expect to see 2K’s finger prints on something until at least WWE ’15
and maybe even beyond that. You need to keep in mind that modes in NBA
2K like “My Player” took years to be developed. Could something like
that happen in the future? Absolutely! This year however? Not a chance.
There just isn’t enough time. So please keep your expectations in
check folks.
At the end of the day, I couldn’t be happier that the WWE Games
franchise landed on its feet at 2K Sports. With people like Cory
Ledesma and Bryan Williams at the helm of things I know we are in good
hands. The future of WWE Games looks very bright indeed and I’m
extremely excited to see what the future holds.
What are your thoughts on the future of WWE Games? What are you
hoping to see in WWE ’14 and beyond? Sound off in the comments section
below!
The last few months have been a scary time for fans of WWE Games
everywhere. THQ went into bankruptcy and the company closed its doors.
While most gaming franchises quickly found a new home, the WWE Games
brand remained ominously silent.
With several fans left stunned and confused, we were only left to
speculate, where would the WWE Games franchise land? EA Sports?
Activision? Ubisoft? You name it, and it was guessed and debated upon,
luckily for WWE Games and all its fans though it landed exactly where it
needed to be, Take Two Interactive in its 2K Sports Division.
For those unaware, 2K Sports is best known for its NBA 2K series and
great previous version of its NFL series that met its untimely end in
2005. The greatest thing about Take Two landing the WWE Games franchise
is that the THQ WWE Team and the fine folks at Yukes all came along for
the ride and it was absolutely the best thing that could have been done
for all parties involved.
Now I know there are some people out there that wanted the WWE
franchise to be restarted from scratch but honestly that would have been
one of the worst things that could’ve ever happened to the WWE Games
community, and here’s why…
A wrestling game engine is not an easy thing to build from scratch.
The WWE Games engine everyone has been used to playing on for well over
a decade now is designed and owned by Yukes. For any company to
attempt to build a new engine from square one would have been quite the
uphill battle.
A fan base that has come to expect a WWE game once a year would be
quite agitated and angry when they realize that a new WWE game from that
company would have been at least a few years away. Furthermore, when
that title finally did release, it would be an extremely bare bones
product with nowhere near the amount of content the WWE Games fan is
used to getting. TNA Impact from Midway is a perfect example of that.
With Yukes and the THQ team landing at 2K Sports we will actually
get WWE ’14 on schedule this Fall. If you look at previous timelines it
should be evident that before THQ went bankrupt WWE ’14 was well into
development. Now with the backing of 2K Sports and Take Two behind it,
one could only imagine that a bigger budget will be put into the
franchise as well. There is no way 2K will let the first WWE Game with
their name on it not be a home run, and will probably be willing to
spend the cash to make it, as CM Punk would say…the best in the world!
Now I know a lot of people have some crazy demands for WWE ’14
already under the 2K Sports banner, but I would like to remind you all
that with this game already being well into development I wouldn’t TRULY
expect to see 2K’s finger prints on something until at least WWE ’15
and maybe even beyond that. You need to keep in mind that modes in NBA
2K like “My Player” took years to be developed. Could something like
that happen in the future? Absolutely! This year however? Not a chance.
There just isn’t enough time. So please keep your expectations in
check folks.
At the end of the day, I couldn’t be happier that the WWE Games
franchise landed on its feet at 2K Sports. With people like Cory
Ledesma and Bryan Williams at the helm of things I know we are in good
hands. The future of WWE Games looks very bright indeed and I’m
extremely excited to see what the future holds.
What are your thoughts on the future of WWE Games? What are you
hoping to see in WWE ’14 and beyond? Sound off in the comments section
below!