Earlier this week 2K Games announced thatWWE 2K21will not be coming outas the developer Visual Concepts is skipping a year to make improvements after the lackluster launch ofWWE 2K20. In its place, the studio is releasingWWE 2K Battlegrounds, an arcade-style fighting game with exaggerated and cartoonish action that has now been revealed to be coming out on PC, PlayStation 4, Google Stadia, the Nintendo Switch, and Xbox One.
WhenWWE 2K Battlegrounds' announcement trailerwas put out on April 27, no consoles were listed for its “fall 2020” release window. However, the American Entertainment Software Ratings Board (ESRB) revealed what Battlegrounds will be coming out on in its published rating. The game received a “T” for “cartoon violence” and “mild suggestive themes,” which according to the rating summary includes female wrestlers wearing outfits that “expose moderate amounts of cleavage and/or buttocks” and “suggestive” taunts such as a hula-styled circular dance.
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Toward the middle of April, the ESRB announced that for the first time since its inception in 1994 it would begin addinglabels for games which include loot boxes and microtransactions.WWE 2K Battlegroundsis listed as having “In-Game Purchases” on all platforms, as well as systems in which “Users Interact” presumably through online matches that can feature both “custom characters and WWE Superstars.”
The inclusion of a Switch and Stadia version for this new title by developer Saber Interactive is somewhat significant givenWWE 2K20was only available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. It’s likely this wider platform presence was more doable on account ofWWE 2K Battlegrounds' more cartoony, simplistic-looking art style and presumably smaller arcade scope, but it will be interesting to see if the next mainlineWWE 2Kgame follows suit.
Game releases being leaked through the ESRB or its European equivalent, the Pan-European Game Information (PEGI) board, is not an uncommon occurrence. In March, the ESRB leaked thatBlue Manchu’sVoid Bastardswould be coming to Switchabout a month before the official release was confirmed by Humble Bundle.
While it is admirable that 2K Games seems to have taken the lessons it learned fromWWE 2K20’s launch to heart by giving the next game more time in the oven, manyfans have had negative reactionsto its replacement title. With as wide a console release as it’s getting,Battlegroundsshould have ample opportunity to either confirm these suspicions or rise above them come fall.
WWE 2K Battlegroundsis launching fall 2020 for PC, PS4, Stadia, Switch, and Xbox One.
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