It’s out later this year, and with a dedicated State of Play this Spring, we’ll likely learn more about its gameplay changes and additions. Other noteworthy titles from the publishing label include Visual Concepts’ WWE 2K and NBA 2K, though it didn’t confirm whether these are the latest entries.

This seemingly implies that the next iterations for both franchises are bound for the Switch 2, which makes sense for NBA 2K since its sequel has yet to be announced. However, with WWE 2K25 recently released, it would likely have to wait until next year to reveal the sequel.

Time will tell, so stay tuned for updates. Borderlands 4 is coming to Xbox Series X/S, PS5, and PC on September 23rd with a Switch 2 release date yet to be confirmed. Check out the latest trailer highlighting all the new Vault Hunters. You can also learn more about its dynamic world and seamless travel between zones.

As per the wrestling website Fightful Wrestling, EA and WWE have had talks about developing and publishing future video games related to WWE, with the company replacing the long-time license holder, 2K Games.

Given the track record of the website when it comes to anything related to wrestling, the rumor could very well be substantial. For now, all we can do is wait for any official confirmation from either of the companies. We will keep you posted once more updates are revealed.

WWE 2K22 will launch on March 11 for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, Xbox One, and PC, and is available now for Deluxe Edition and nWo 4-Life owners.

WWE has had talks with EA for future video games, per @MikeStrawMedia on Fightful Select. This could be huge for the WWE gaming brand.

Read the full story at Fightful Select.https://t.co/GPnpemvBK6 pic.twitter.com/P30Io9HnVM

— Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful.com (@SeanRossSapp) March 7, 2022

After the technical disaster that was WWE 2K20, the annual sports franchise took a break. Last year, in its place, came WWE 2K Battlegrounds. That game was a cartoony and over the top take with many of the company’s top stars of past and present. Now WrestleMania weekend is almost here, and it seems 2K is teasing something.

On the official 2K Twitter, it’s been teased that WWE 2K fans should be watching WrestleMania weekend. Much like last year, this time WrestleMania will be split into two shows over the course of Saturday, April 10th and Sunday, April 11th. The obvious expectations is that we’ll see the reveal of WWE 2K22 with positioning it alongside WrestleMania to get the most eyeballs on it. Unless they are once again skipping a year, but that seems unlikely.

Not much is known at this time about what plans are in the works for WWE 2K22 now that Yuke’s has moved on and Visual Concepts has fully taken over development of the title. Seems we may not have to wait too much longer to get a glimpse of whatever it’ll look like.

https://twitter.com/2K/status/1380203971118313474?s=20

Last year’s WWE 2K20 was quite the mess. While the series has always been known for its technical issues (there’s many hilarious YouTubes and Twitters dedicated just to WWE 2K glitches, and they are wonderful), 2K20 was something entirely different. It was so bad, developer Visual Concepts is taking this year off the series to refine the next entry. And it seems they are looking to the past to do that.

In a Reddit Q&A, series lead Patrick Gilmore talked about the next simulation-based title. He promised an evolution in the gameplay system, possibly the biggest one in years, and said the team was even looking back to the WWE license titles of the past, to more arcade based titles like Smackdown and No Mercy.

“Core gameplay is one of the major investments we’re making in the next instalment—one of six pillars we are focused on disproportionately in development,” he wrote.

“We are looking at much-loved previous games like No Mercy or Smackdown: Here Comes the Pain, along with top franchise instalments, and more modern wrestling and fighting games to build an all-new philosophical foundation for the game.”

Whether it’ll amount to anything or not is anyone’s guess. Hopefully, the year off will help at least create a more stable product, if nothing else, for next year. In the meantime, this year we’ll get the more stylized WWE 2K Battlegrounds, which you can read more about through here. We’ll keep you updated as more information comes out about the next WWE 2K title.

For over 20 years, we have had an annual licensed game based on WWE. While that was Smackdown for many years, the brand changed to 2K along with a publisher shift to 2K games. That’s why it’s almost surreal that there will be no WWE 2K title for this year. But while we may not be getting a game in the series for 2020, we will get an idea of where the franchise is headed soon.

2K Games took to their Twitter shortly after the announcement made by WWE about the lack of title this year to say that next week they will share details about WWE 2K‘s future. It’s hard to say what this will be, though odds are that it will be related to the 2021 entry next year.

Last year’s entry, WWE 2K20, was plagued with technical issues and performed poorly both from a critical and financial standpoint. While it’s unclear at this time what lead to the cancellation of a title for 2020, it was most likely a combination of things from current COVID-19 pandemic issues to developer Visual Concepts needing more time. Stay tuned for more details.

We will be sharing details on the future of the WWE 2K franchise as well as some exciting news on Monday at 7:00 a.m. PT.

— 2K (@2K) April 24, 2020

If there’s one thing you can count on to happen one way or another, it’s wrestling. Even when most sports are canceled, Wrestlemania still went on earlier in the month, and both WWE and new promotion AEW are running shows weekly, albeit in empty venues. But it does seem like there’s a rare tap out this year, as it’s been confirmed that the annual WWE 2K series would not have an entry this year.

At the company’s most recent earning call, WWE said that there would be no WWE 2K21, making it potentially the first time in over 20 years that there hasn’t been an annual WWE licensed release. This comes after WWE 2K20 was a huge disappointment, both critically and financially last year.

It was rumored recently that 2K21 was canceled, so this isn’t a huge surprise. Interestingly enough, that report also stated that there would be another WWE title released in its place. At this point, no other alternative title has been announced. Right now, it looks like we may just be without a WWE game this year all together.

CONTRA

When Contra was at its peak, it was one of the best franchises in the industry. Contra games brought with them a guarantee of riotous fun, gruelling action, and non-stop carnage, and when the franchise died down with the advent of time, it came as a bitter disappointment to a lot of people. Recently, Konami revived the franchise- perhaps “revived” is the wrong word though, because really, all Contra: Rogue Corps has done is drive the series even further into its depressing grave. Opting for a third person shooting style instead of the sidescrolling run’n’gun action the series is know for, Contra: Rogue Corps completely misses the mark in every way possible, and doesn’t seem to understand what fans liked about the series in the first place. It’s failure is made all the more baffling when you consider that an indie game called Blazing Chrome that came out earlier this year delivered everything that made people love Contra in spades- and yet Konami seem to have completely lost their way. Perhaps it’s best to let the legendary property die with some dignity.

Much like real wrestling, if you want a video game portraying the scripted sport, you really only have one option- the WWE 2K series. The developer of that series, Yuke’s, has been involved with the WWE license for almost as long as there’s been WWE/WWF (the company was renamed in 2002) video games, with their first being WWF Smackdown! all the way back in 2000. Now it seems a developer wants there to be a new wrestling game to rival the WWE 2K series- and that developer? Yuke’s themselves.

In an interview with VGC, Yuke’s Producer and Senior Vice President Hiromi Furuta sat down to talk about wanting to create a new wrestling IP. She thinks the lack of competition in the space has held the product back somewhat. The fact that WWE and 2K have consolidated their license (now releasing only one game a year, where as in years past they would release two, if not more), and the lack of other companies making similar titles makes it harder for experimentation as well as coming up with new ideas year to year. Their solution is to create a new team within Yuke’s to create an IP that will serve as an in-house rival to the 2K series. She says the direction is not set in stone yet, so whatever it ends up being could range from ultra-realistic simulation or something more fantastical.

“We are trying to launch a new wrestling game,” she said. “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 actually isn’t the first time Yuke’s has done something like that. In the PS2 era they launched a wrestling game series called Rumble Roses, an all-female wrestling title that probably wouldn’t quite fly today (you can look up some videos of that to see why if you’re curious). Either way, it’ll be interesting to see what this adds up to. They will still be doing WWE titles, though, and it shouldn’t be too much longer before we get a reveal for WWE 2K20.

Take Two Interactive have finished up with their financial conference for the end of the fiscal quarter, which ended on December 31st, and have since brought some exciting news to light. They have even given us some insight into their plans for the near and not so near future.

Speaking about what players can expect to see from Take Two’s annualised library of games, they said, “Users can expect new annual releases from our NBA and WWE 2K series, as well as exciting, yet to be announced titles from other popular franchises.” and that looking even beyond that, they have a “robust pipeline of titles in development, including ground breaking new intellectual properties, and new releases from our proven franchises.”

What’s better is that they didn’t stop there, continuing to talk about upcoming developments in their games still to be announced, they said, “In addition, we have numerous unannounced titles in development, as well as innovative offerings designed to maximize player engagement and drive recurring consumer spending.”

Rounding things of nicely, is the good old business line that acts as the bait we love, “We have more to announce about our future line-up in the coming months.” Get hyped people, there’s a lot more coming from them soon.