The people who make WWE 2K games have started working on a brand new IP as they look to introduce a fresh wrestling game to rival their existing franchise, as well as motivate staff.
Yuke, the game's developers, have been virtually unchallenged as it relates to the genre, with AKI Corporation having ended their creation of wrestling games since 2006. And the studio's heads feel that some form of competition is needed to keep passion levels high.
As a result, Yuke has set up a new development team to work on this new project. Hiromi Furuta, the studio's producer and senior vice president, revealed as much to VGC in a recent interview, explaining that they don't feel they're doing players justice with their new releases.
“I think having no competitor isn’t healthy at all,” she said. “When we had competitors in the wrestling space, we were determined not to lose and that was a great motivator for creating something great.
“But right now, looking at the market demands, players are expecting something new every time we release a game and we feel like we haven’t achieved what we’ve really wanted to do. For example, in many cases we’re still using old assets and we’re not able to do some things in the way that we want to.”
Yuke will not be doing away with the 2K series or its development team despite their upstart.
“We are trying to launch a new wrestling game,” Furuta adds. “Of course, we will retain the WWE team, but we are also aware that our creators are beginning to lose sight of their passion and confidence and becoming focused only on completing assigned tasks. That’s not the direction Yuke’s wants to go in. So, in order to compensate, we’re going to start a new wrestling project.”
This new direction was taken as a means of increasing competitiveness, but Furuta says Yuke wouldn't be able to stop making 2K even if they wanted to.
“It is a project dear to our hearts and has even become a part of some of the veteran creators’ lives,” she says. “We have a huge history making these games and still have a good relationship with 2K. Anyhow, WWE would never allow us to stop making these games! However, the new project we have in mind will be the internal competition for WWE.”
What This Means
WWE 2K has kept standards high over the years and 2K19 proved to be a resounding success.
Another wrestling game from the same company seems to be a really bold step and only time will tell whether Yuke achieves intended results. In any case, though, the more the merrier. Let's see what they have in store.