Development is underway on the next WWE game, WWE 2K22. This is the first entry in the series since late 2019, which was almost universally negatively received. WWE 2K22 is set to address the issues found with the last game, and fans are hoping that the new title will have fewer technical issues than WWE 2K20. The developer, Visual Concepts, has promised to address previous issues with the series, but a recent set of WWE firings may have thrown the team a new challenge.
Recently, WWE released several high-profile superstars such as Aleister Black, Braun Strowman, and Lana. Like clockwork, WWE tends to release a round of superstars every year, but this is the second time in 2021 that the professional wrestling company has fired a group of wrestlers. The wrestlers who were fired were shocking names, such as former world champion Braun Strowman, and Aleister Black, who recently came back with a new character. These releases undoubtedly were surprising for fans and professional wrestling workers all over, including Visual Concepts, the developer of WWE 2K22.
Visual Concepts May Have to Scrap Content from WWE 2K22
WWE 2K22 is currently in development, and while only a few superstars have been confirmed to appear in the game, some of the released wrestlers almost certainly would have been featured in it. Though WWE 2K22 has had some behind-the-scenes videos, the full roster has yet to be confirmed, but wrestling fans can be sure that the likes of Barun Strowman and Aleister Black would have been in it. Strowman is a former world champion and Black has been earmarked as someone with main event potential for some time. It's purely speculative, but work could have been done on these superstars already which may be unusable now.
WWE 2K22 was already set to exclude several superstars thanks to wrestlers being fired and moving to AEW, and now that list has gotten longer. The difference with WWE's releases this time around is that work could have already been underway for the fired superstars. Beyond Aleister Black and Braun Strowman, Lana, Murphy, and Ruby Riott would have certainly been a part of the game. It's unknown how much work has been done on individual superstars, but Visual Concepts could have a bunch of material it won't be able to use now. It's unlikely that WWE would want former superstars in its new game, so fans can expect not to see the fired superstars.
WWE 2K22's Roster is Potentially Thinner
It's expected that most of the wrestlers across Raw, SmackDown, and NXT will be included in WWE 2K22. Besides Rey Mysterio, Cesaro, and WWE 2K22's cover stars, the full roster hasn't been confirmed, but it could be noticeably thinner than previous games. Wrestling fans will already have to go without series mainstays like The Big Show, Christian, and Matt Hardy, but WWE's recent round of releases only adds to the list of those who will be absent.
How Visual Concepts will tackle this is open for debate, and while there is an argument that the roster is already quite large. The developer could perhaps focus on adding more legends to the line-up to compensate for the fewer current stars available for the roster, but without official news, it's speculative.
It's an interesting time to be a fan of wrestling video games, with WWE and AEW both releasing video games and major roster changes for both companies. WWE 2K22's roster is going to be somewhat lacking in familiar and current names, which could see the developer have to throw out some of its work. The recent WWE releases were quite shocking and some fans undoubtedly were excited to play as Aleister Black and the other discharged wrestlers. Visual Concepts has promised that WWE 2K22 will hit different, and as far as the roster is concerned, it could be dissimilar to past entries of the series.
WWE 2K22 is currently in development, and it's set for release at some point in 2021.