WWE Relationship With 2K "Seriously Strained" - Major Update On Reasons Behind WWE 2K22 Delay

Strained relationships, WWE releases and questionable decisions.

by Andrew Pollard
WWE 2K22 Roman Reigns
2K Games

With today seeing it announced that WWE 2K22 will now be released next March - and an admittedly impressive 30-second trailer dropped - there's word that it's been far from an easy ride for all involved in putting this game together.

As per SportsGamersOnline, multiple sources at 2K Sports and Visual Concepts have told them that there has been "infighting" regarded the direction of WWE 2K22, with "quite a few" high-level decisions causing concerns for those developing the game.

One of the major issues seems to pertain to WWE 2K22's release date. WWE was reportedly pushing to have the game release in its usual window of somewhere close to the Survivor Series PPV in November, while 2K Sports and Visual Concepts were trying to get the game moved back from that slot since pretty much as soon as WWE 2K22 was announced.

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SportsGamers also adds how one problem that 2K Sports and Visual Concepts has ran into, is the sheer number of releases made by WWE in recent months. The development crew have been scanning wrestlers and creating brand new characters models, only to then see some of those names fired by WWE.

As it stands, WWE 2K22 is expected to feature a significant numbers of wrestlers who are no longer with WWE, although this delay until March 2022 gives 2K and Visual Concepts more time to adjust things accordingly and remove/add wrestlers.

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To add further to these issues, WWE has also been more difficult to deal with after being disappointing by the dreadful WWE 2K20. So unimpressed were WWE with the response of WWE 2K20, Vince McMahon's sports entertainment giant debated splitting entirely with 2K Sports - the video game publisher they've been tied to since 2013.

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Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main day job, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg. Where his beloved Wrexham AFC is concerned, Andrew is co-host of the Fearless in Devotion podcast, which won the Club Podcast of the Year gong at the 2024 FSA Awards.