WWE 2K21 Canceled, But The Franchise Will Be Back [Update]

The WWE has officially confirmed that the next WWE 2K game is canceled. WWE 2K21 will not be released, management said on an earnings call. The news comes following potentially-delayed workflows due to the ongoing pandemic and a particularly poor showing from the previous WWE game. [Update: On Monday, 2K confirmed WWE 2K21 won't come out this year and revealed a new game, WWE 2K Battlegrounds. No platforms were announced, but it arrives later this year in lieu of a sim-style wrestling game.]

This news comes from the WWE. Take-Two, which owns 2K Sports, announced on its own that it will share more details about the WWE 2K series on Monday, April 27. The company will also release dates on some "exciting news."

Last year's game, WWE 2K20, was poorly received. GameSpot's review scored it a 2/10, and we noted in our review that the game's "torrent of frequent and disruptive bugs and glitches" negatively affected the entire experience.

In response to the negative feedback, management at Take-Two said they were "disappointed." However, president Karl Slatoff said he was optimistic about the future of the brand. "The WWE brand continues to expand worldwide. And we believe there remains a substantial long-term opportunity to grow our WWE 2K series by improving the quality of the game," he said in November 2019.

WWE 2K20 was the first WWE game developed entirely by Visual Concepts, which also produces the NBA 2K series. The WWE 2K series was previously developed by the Japanese studio Yuke's, though that studio became frustrated with its working relationship with 2K Sports, according to VGC. Yuke's is now developing a wrestling game of its own to rival WWE 2K.