In a surprising report, it appears that Take Two Interactive’s 2K Sports has decided to delay the release of WWE’s WWE 2K15 video game. The game has been highly anticipated and vastly promoted on WWE programming as well as the E3 Video Game Conference.
2K Sports appeared to change a lot of things and the game looked to be the best WWE video game ever made. They added modes like WWE Career, where you will start as an NXT rookie and work your way up, eventually getting to the end of your career and ending up in the WWE Hall of Fame. If you are worthy of course.
2K also added a WWE Showcase Mode, which will allow us to play two major rivalries out. One being Triple H vs Shawn Michaels and the other being CM Punk vs John Cena.
Many thought that his retirement was the end of Punk, but at least he’ll live on in video game form for WWE 2K15, right?
Not so fast.
CM Punk sent a letter to WWE demanding royalty money for the video game. As most know, he left WWE unscheduled and never returned. WWE lost money paying him for a bit, then decided to no longer pay Punk. This led to places such as The Wrestling Observer claiming that Punk’s potential lawsuit with WWE could delay the game’s release. While it appears as if CM Punk was not responsible for the delay, WWE 2K15 has been pushed back to November. Sadly, it only seems to be for Next-Gen consoles.
“Today we’re announcing a new next-generation console release date for WWE 2K15 of November 18, 2014 in North America and November 21, 2014 internationally for both PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
However, the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 date remains unchanged and will remain October 28, 2014 in North America and October 31, 2014 internationally.
This delay is in the interest of delivering the best possible WWE experience to you, the fans, and 2K’s development teams are working hard to ensure its success. “Visual Concepts and Yuke’s are committed to delivering the most authentic and action-packed WWE experience to date, including release for the very first time on next-generation consoles,” said Greg Thomas, President, Visual Concepts.
“The additional development time enables our talented teams to ensure the WWE 2K15 next-gen experience fully meets our expectations.”
We thank you for your continued patience and hope you’ll join us on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One when WWE 2K15 launches this November!”
Here is the stupidity, if 2K is releasing the WWE game on time for PS3 and X-Box 360, there shouldn’t be an issue with the Next-Gen consoles.
2K has been touting how great the game looks and how the game is awesome to play. They even had demos ready to go for E3. It doesn’t make any sense for 2K to delay the video game when they have had over a year to fix any bugs or problems.
Many thought the delay originally was due to Punk, but if the game is only being released late for Next-Gen, it is a 2K issue. It is doubtful 2K will tell us the main reason for the delay, but we at least know that it is not Punk related. While Punk could always delay the game in some way, for now the delay is only a 2K decision. Yet past-gen gamers will be able to play the game on time.
Many considered the thought that 2K is doing this so that PS3 and 360 sales will increase, as the hype for the game has been huge. However, this will not sit well with those who bought a Next-Gen model just to play games like WWE 2K15, of which is promoting the game using the Next-Gen graphics.
While the Showcase mode is available for all consoles, the My Career Mode is only slated to be a Next-Gen add-on. This could also be the issue when it comes to the delay. So while the Next-Gen gamer might be a bit miffed on the delay, there is at least some thought that 2K is working on a potential Next-Gen only edition. That is why the past-gen consoles are allowed to have the game early. While this seemed to mean that that NXT stars like Adrian Neville and Sami Zayn may only be Next-Gen playable, as they will be in the My Career Mode, there seems to be a loophole allowing them to be in the game.
An achievement list was leaked talking about some of the additions for the My Career Mode seemingly as well as an NXT addition, according to WrestleZone …
“The achievement ‘NXT Takeover’ is given to a player who defeats John Cena using an NXT Superstar, while ‘Foundation of the Future’ is earned by getting a grade of A in something called Proving Ground. There’s also seems to be a mode called ‘Who’s Got NXT,’ as the achievement ‘Next Generation’ is awarded for completing all objectives.”
If we are to believe everything 2K is doing is set to make the game better then a delay is perfectly fine. However, the delay being almost a month after the original date for Next-Gen gamers will make many unhappy. WWE gamers have been aching for something great, so if 2K delivers then all will be forgiven I imagine. We will have to wait and see however.
[IMG Credits: Gamespot.com, GamesRadar.com, 2k Sports]