Edge in game footage (The Indian Express)
WWE 2K series came back with a bang this year with 2K22 after the dismal reviews of WWE 2K20 and the subsequent canceling of WWE 2K21.
2K has officially confirmed that WWE 2K23 is in development and also provided a release window according to the SmackTalks Youtube channel. Take-Two CEO, Strauss Zelnick stated that 2K and Visual Concepts made a triumphant return to the squared circle with the highly-anticipated release of 2K22 earlier this year. He also revealed that the game achieved the highest Metacritic scores on both XBOX and Playstation platforms in the history of the franchise.
He also noted that in the first four weeks of its release, WWE 2K22 exceeded the selling level of both WWE 2K19 and WWE 2K20. This was despite the latest WWE 2K game releasing during a non-holiday season.
Consumer engagement with the title has also been exemplary with over 140 million in-game matches already played. Over 5.6 million hours of WWE 2K22 content was viewed on Twitch, as revealed by Zelnick.
Zelnick also thanked 2K and the WWE team at Visual Concepts for their effort to reestablish the “incredible franchise”.
There were various reports that had surfaced before the release of WWE 2K22 that the Stamford-based company had spoken to EA Sports to become the new developers of WWE games. However, with the enormous success of WWE 2K22, the plans of changing developers might have been dropped altogether.
WWE 2K22 was released on March 11 while the early access began on March 8. March is usually not the release time for WWE 2K games as they have traditionally been released in the month of October.
WWE 2K22 did exceedingly well after releasing in March so there might be a chance that 2K would stick to that date. The fans feel that a release in the WrestleMania season added to the excitement around the game and facilitated more sales. Some are of the opinion that because 2K21 got canceled, the long wait of two and a half years that fans had to endure before getting a new WWE 2K game could also be the reason for the phenomenal success.
2K released their upcoming release schedule which included WWE 2K23 and the release date was listed as Fiscal 2023. This is a period that runs from October 1, 2022, to September 30, 2023.
It will be interesting to see if 2K decided to shift the release of WWE 2K23 to the month of October or if it continues to go ahead with the successful March slot.
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