Without WWE 2K21, How Will I Live Vicariously in My Favorite Wrestler’s Underpants?

• WWE 2K21 appears to have been canceled in the aftermath of the disastrous launch of its predecessor.
• WWE 2K20 was the first game in the series to be mostly developed by Visual Concepts, rather than co-developed with Japanese studio Yuke’s.
• Given how awful that game was, this is absolutely the right decision.

Since the 1990s, the WWE series has filled an important void in the gaming industry. What other title gives kids and adults alike the opportunity to step into the underpants of their favorite wrestlers? Assuming that’s your thing, you’ll be quite disappointed to learn there won’t be a WWE 2K21 this year .

Then again, maybe it’s not so disappointing. After all, WWE 2K20 was absolutely abysmal. If the new game was going to be the same, then it’s for the best that we didn’t get another one.

WWE 2K21 Was Probably Another Disaster in the Making

If you didn’t have the displeasure of playing WWE 2K20, then you’re supremely lucky. The game was famously broken and buggy, sometimes hilariously so. While it made for excellent YouTube video fodder, it did not make for an enjoyable play experience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLf7eDsQMjw

Unsurprisingly, the game was very poorly received . Nor is it particularly shocking that 2K Games wanted to avoid the embarrassment of slapping their logo on another WWE title developed by Visual Concepts, who took over the majority of development for the last game.

Apparently, former WWE 2K developer Yuke’s was a vital driver behind the earlier success of the franchise.

A Break Could Shake the Series up a Bit

The cancellation of WWE 2K21 gives the series – and its fans – some much-needed space. Maybe a year apart will rekindle the old flame and help the series find its feet again.

That assumes the series does come back, of course. This cancellation throws the future of the series into some level of confusion.

On the plus side, it does seem like all hope is not lost. According to the WWE 2K20 Twitter account, we’ll get some news about the franchise’s future on Monday, April 27.

Hopefully, a one-year gap in the WWE 2K series won’t turn into the death of the franchise as we know it. The last thing we need is for yet another industry staple to disappear, killing a beloved game genre in the process. I’m looking at you, Skate.