2K announced WWE 2K Battlegrounds today, an arcade-style wrestling game that’s coming out this fall for unspecified platforms.
Last week, WWE revealed that the annual WWE 2K franchise would be taking a break this year following the disappointing release of WWE 2K20. But while we won’t get a traditional WWE sim game in 2020, Battlegrounds is ensuring that we are getting some sort of WWE title this year.
Battlegrounds will feature what 2K says is over-the-top action and stylistic characters designs. You’ll see things like Becky Lynch summoning fire energy through her hands and The Rock throwing John Cena at a hungry alligator. So, yeah, it’s not shooting for realism. But we’ve seen successful, arcade-style takes on WWE action before in games like 2011’s WWE All Stars.
Shoulders to the mat
In a blog post announcing Battlegrounds, 2K acknowledged the problems with WWE 2K20 and its decision to take extra time developing the next game in that series.
“We want to ensure the development team at Visual Concepts can create a great game that will entertain grizzled WWE 2K veterans, as well as newcomers who want to climb through the ropes and step into the ring for the very first time.”
To that end, 2K has hired Patrick Gilmore to serve as executive producer for the next WWE 2K game developed at Visual Concepts. Gilmore is a 25-year industry vet who has worked on classics like Aladdin for Sega Genesis, Killer Instinct, and Medal of Honor.