Stephanie McMahon has revealed on her twitter account that the current WWE champion The Rock will grace the cover of the upcoming video game, WWE 2K14. She tweeted the following:
"Breaking News: @therock will be featured on the cover of WWE 2K 14" Casey Collins EVP CPG #BPS #Wrestlemania Stephanie McMahon (@StephMcMahon) April 6, 2013
No further details have been revealed other than that the game is scheduled for an Autumn 2013 release and will feature a new developer, 2K Sports. This will be the first time THQ will not to produce a WWE game, after publishing a long line of games dating back from 1999 with WWF WrestleMania 2000 for the Nintendo 64.
Filing for bankruptcy late last year, 2K Sports has now acquired the WWE game license and is set to develop its own series along with its famous NBA and NHL games. The beauty of the story is The Rock making his the return to a WWE game cover, who has featured numerous times as the cover for earlier installments. His use of the word SmackDown would not only birth a television program, but also a gaming title. The success of WWF SmackDown brought future installments named after The Rocks catchphrases such Know Your Role, Just Bring It and Shut Your Mouth. Before the franchise would evolve into the SmackDown vs Raw series, Brock Lesnar would have the final honour of having his catchphrase Here Comes the Pain become the last title for a SmackDown game. It should be noted that both Brock Lesnar and The Rock returned as in game characters for the game WWE 12. Their presence is being used to attract non-wrestling fans to the product, and with his movie roles The Rock's image is finally making his return.