WWE 2K14 coming this fall, Yukes and Visual Concepts working together
WWE has offered up some of the first comments about the transfer of its wrestling rights to new owner Take-Two Interactive.
As previously mentioned, 2K will publish all WWE titles going forward after THQ sold its assets last month. A new five-year deal is in place.
Fans can look forward to the next title, known as WWE 2K14 (as opposed to WWE ’14), this fall. Yukes will remain as the primary developer behind the annual wrestling releases, but Visual Concepts will assist the studio from here on out.
According to WWE executive VP of consumer products Casey Collins:
“We looked at a lot of different leaders in the industry and talked to all of the big guys, and for us, we had been with THQ for so many years, it was nice to finally go out and date a few other companies and see what kind of thought process they had about the video game industry going forward. As we look at the next-gen systems coming out, whether that’s this holiday or next holiday, we want to make sure we align our property with who we thought would be a leader going forward on these next-gen systems. With Yukes, we have a lot of history, and we’ve been very happy with what Yukes has done in the past. What we’re going to do moving forward is meld Yukes with the team at Visual Concepts, so we can have the best of both worlds. Having Yukes’ experience and then getting the Visual Concepts guys on board with them, we think this is going to be a dynamic duo.”
The new WWE game-making team will include “some of the key designers behind the WWE gaming franchise” from THQ. Additionally, “the THQ Fight Team is also being brought over, and they’ll report directly to Visual Concepts. Their experience in the marketing, their experience in the development, their experience with our franchise for years. We thought that it was very valuable to keep that continuity.”
