WWE 2K19: 10 Biggest Changes 2K Must Make
8. Authentic Arenas
In a perfect world, 2K would be able to lift the arenas in their NBA series and drop them into WWE games. Licensing makes that impossible, and it'd be an unnecessary expense for the studio to license real buildings from every city anyway.
There's nothing stopping them from replicating the feel of real-world arenas fans know and love instead.
A bogus Madison Square Garden, Barclays Center, MetLife Stadium or Mercedes-Benz Superdome would be fine without the official branding splashed everywhere. THQ got away with this in 2002's SmackDown: Here Comes The Pain by mimicking MSG, and that added to the overall level of immersion the game had.
Being able to roam around areas like WWF New York, the streets outside, a subway station and more helped that game come alive. It'd be possible to update that for modern titles if 2K used some creativity. Let's at least allow people to pretend they're in real venues around the world rather than some generic rent-an-arena.