WWE 2K25 Would Have Been A Much Better Game If Developers Had More Than A Year To Make It

I have a complicated relationship with WWE. There is nothing better than the melodrama of a good babyface versus heel feud, with the very best having the energy of an anime season finale mixed with the gnarliest of boxing matches. But this company also employs people like Logan Paul and The Undertaker, so to call it a mixed bag would be an understatement. Yet I still love it, tuning in every week to make sure I’m staying on top.

This complication extends to the yearly WWE 2K titles. Over the years, the games have improved in quality again and again as developers listen to fan complaints and add new superstars, match types, showcase modes, and features that replicate the entertainment that we see on television with enough freedom to make it our own. But whenever a new entry comes into view before WrestleMania each year, it is wrought with signs of a rushed development that, in our current landscape, are impossible to address.

WWE 2K Deserves More Time To Reach Its Full Potential

It’s been clear for decades that WWE takes the video game parts of its business seriously. It has been releasing annual installments – except for a year’s break after the horrific disaster of 2K20 in October 2019.

Every year there is a new game designed to replace what has come before, which is especially true these days with digital versions being removed from all digital storefronts not even two years after their initial release. Each new title sponsors some of the biggest shows of the year, with constant advertisements thrown our way to make sure fans both casual and hardcore pick up a copy. And it’s been proven that this strategy works.

However, when you step back and look at the reality of it all, WWE 2K exists within a harsh business model where bold innovation and genuine quality-of-life improvements aren’t possible without giving something up. The effort needed to create, polish, and release an annual sports game has only increased, and there is no way time is on 2K’s side here. For the past several years, without fail, a new game arrived before the first financial quarter reached its end to both boost potential profits and ensure it was on the shelves before WrestleMania season.

While each new edition always comes with updated rosters, a new Showcase Mode, and something to help it stand out from what came before, it often feels like we’re playing the same game again. Worse than the lack of meaningful iteration in a £60 game, it seems that developers have been cutting corners. One harrowing addition people noticed this year was the telltale signs of generative AI or similar technology on a number of features.

And WWE 2K25 Also Has No Business Using Generative AI

Hustle, Loyalty, and Respect were misspelled and warped on John Cena’s baseball cap, while words were also a garbled mess on similarly popular wrestlers like AJ Styles and CM Punk. These are things that an officially licensed title like this shouldn’t get wrong. It reeks of disrespect by 2K, but also developers doing everything they can to update the game’s roster without nearly enough time to do it justice. No time to check over mistakes, refine an overstuffed line-up of wrestlers, or make sure the game is free of awkward bugs and glitches.

What hurts most is that, since the series’ return with WWE 2K22, it has always felt great to play. Each superstar has an easy-to-understand combo system and picking up a controller and simply mashing buttons while making use of the reversal mechanic helps even non-gamers have fun with their favourite wrestlers.

But this new combat system was made possible thanks to a two-year development cycle that has now been reduced to, if I had to guess, ten months or less. That short time is not enough to create a new experience with new modes or an updated roster where fans will expect things to be better. So, of course, you cut corners.

The Island Is WWE 2K25 At Its Most Transparently Corporate

You also have The Island, which further compounds the problems that plague 2K25. Like a lot of 2K sports titles, it is filled with microtransactions. You can purchase card packs and points to improve the stats of your created wrestlers like usual, but The Island is an all-new virtual space containing retailers you can walk into to spend currency, talk with NPCs, and partake in daily wrestling matches to complete challenges and earn experience.

Riffing off NBA 2K’s The City, I can see the concept and what Visual Concepts wanted to achieve here, but everything about it has been designed to encourage the player to spend money. That is the end goal, and I’m not foolish enough to invest time in something that only wants to take advantage of me.

2K’s intention with each annual entry is abundantly clear, and when the money is rolling as copies fly off the shelf regardless, it has no incentive to give developers more time to create a great game that does WWE justice, or drastically change the formula until it crashes or burns like 2K20.

It’s frustrating, because I enjoy these games and know they have all this potential to be incredible, but the modern reality of triple-A blockbuster development makes that impossible. It is a product that will take shortcuts in order to pursue maximum profit, and no matter how hard I try, it’s impossible to ignore that.

Released

March 14, 2025

ESRB

Teen // Blood, Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence