Japanese developer Yuke’s will no longer be developing WWE wrestling games for 2K, including the upcoming WWE 2K20. Yuke's has been developing WWE/WWF games for nearly 20 years.
2K confirmed that starting with WWE 2K20 and going forward, Visual Concepts will be the sole developer of WWE wrestling games. Visual Concepts served as co-developer on the WWE 2K series starting with WWE 2K14.
2K gave the following statement to IGN:
“WWE 2K20 will be developed by Visual Concepts, who have worked with Yuke’s on the development of the series since WWE 2K14. As we’ve continued to invest in the WWE 2K franchise, we’ve seen the Visual Concepts team deisplay incredible passion, talent and commitment to the future of the series. We thank Yuke’s for their years of partnership and are excited to see what the Visual Concepts team brings to the franchise moving forward.”
Yuke’s first started developing WWE wrestling games for THQ starting with WWF SmackDown! in 2000. Take-Two later acquired the WWE video game license from THQ in 2013, and Yuke’s first WWE game for 2K was WWE 2K14.
Earlier this year, Video Game Chronicle reported that Yuke’s started a new, internal development team to start working on a rival wrestling IP. It’s unclear if this IP factored into 2K’s decision to part ways with Yuke’s on the WWE wrestling titles.
Last year’s WWE 2K19 was the last WWE game developed by Yuke’s, and while IGN said it was a “rebound in the right direction,” there were still some lingering issues from the last couple of games in the series. We'll see what direction the WWE 2K series takes when Visual Concepts takes over as the sole developer starting with WWE 2K20.
