‘WWE 2K15’ Will Try To Reinvent Wrestling Games and The WWE 2K Franchise

2K Sports next entry in the pro wrestling franchise will be WWE 2K15, and it will try to reinvent wrestling games and the WWE 2K wrestling franchise as a whole. The sentiment is appropriate as the WWE franchise had grown long in the tooth under Japanese developer Yuke’s, where the series has seen complaints from both fans and critics centered around slow pacing, stiff animations and very slow movement from the wrestlers. The latest developer diary video showcases a few things that the new developer had in mind for the WWE franchise.

WWE 2K15 is the first entry developed in its entirety under the internal 2K Sports development team, Visual Concepts. The liquidation of publisher THQ left the rights for the WWE franchise transferred to 2K, who finished the development on WWE 2K14 with Visual Concepts while retaining longtime series developer Yuke’s to wrap up production, according to Polygon.

Even with notable departures from 2K such as Cory Ledesma, who was the WWE franchise creative director under THQ, Yuke’s is still on board as a full development partner with Visual Concepts running the show under Executive Producer Mark Little.

WWE 2K15 started with all new facial scans and motion capture for the game’s engine which will also benefit from new lighting and rendering on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, as well as PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. Motion capture was done with a regulation WWE ring and 2K staff would literally chase down the WWE stars on tour and set up the scanning booths in the back of wrestling venues. In addition, new audio commentary was recorded with Michael Cold and Jerry Lawler sitting in the same room together in order to capture the natural feel of live commentary and chemistry.

The 2K Sports division has been on a good streak against long time competitor EA Sports, with NBA 2K as the tentpole game for that division. With the same level of quality being directed at the newly acquired WWE franchise, fans should be comfortable about where Visual Concepts and Yuke’s are taking the reinvention of the WWE Franchise with WWE 2K15.

WWE 2K15 will reinvent itself on October 28 for PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One providing the CM punk lawsuit our own Patrick Frye reported on previously does not alter that.

Image Source | 2K Sports