WWE 2K20 did not experience the smooth rollout that 2K and WWE had hoped for, with reports of glitches and issues with the game that seemed to plague it post-launch. Since the release, 2K has patched the game several times, but as WWE revealed today in their Quarter 4 earnings presentation, the issues at launch definitely had an impact on their bottom line. During the call CFO Frank Riddick revealed that the Consumer Products Division saw a big decline from last year’s 4th quarter results, and drew the connecting line to the subpar royalties that the company drew from WWE 2K20‘s release.
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Riddick said, “Revenues decreased to $30.8 million from $32.8 million in the prior year quarter primarily due to lower video game royalties, which were driven by the Company’s franchise console game WWE 2K20” (via Tony Maglio).
That’s a $2 million drop, and while not all of that is necessarily solely the fault of WWE 2K20, you know a substantial portion of it is, and WWE has definitely noticed.
Dog shit video game #WWE2K20’s presence was felt in WWE’s consumer products division: “Revenues decreased to $30.8 million from $32.8 million in the prior year quarter primarily due to lower video game royalties, which were driven by the Company’s franchise console game WWE 2K20” https://t.co/AbTYwTU9zV
— Tony Maglio (@TonyMaglio) February 6, 2020
As a result, don’t be surprised if there are some big changes to WWE 2K21’s development and QA process, as most of the issues reported at launch were of the glitch and bug variety. Granted, some were unhappy with general graphics and gameplay, but the majority of the social media feedback regarded graphical glitches.
WWE 2K20 was the first year under the eye of Visual Concepts completely, as in past years they worked with Yukes on development of the franchise. VC made changes to the control scheme, introduced female MyPlayer options, and changed pst release content with 2K Originals, but the glitches and bugs were too much for those things to overcome, and hiccups like the whole not working in 2020 thing made a bad issue worse.
It remains to be seen what changes will be made to the process. WWE likely wants to keep the annual nature of its series, much like other sports franchises like NBA 2K20 and Madden. If they can just make sure next year’s version is supremely polished, that should remove much of the disdain in players’ mouths, but who knows, perhaps they’ll postpone next year’s product or skip a year. We’ll just have to wait and see.
What do you want to see happen with WWE 2K? Let us know int eh comments and hit me up on Twitter @MattAguilarCB for all things WWE!
