Fans of the WWE 2K series may not get the opportunity to play this year's installment, as the game's publisher has reportedly cancelled WWE 2K21 and is aiming to replace it with a new game instead.
The information about WWE 2K21's cancellation comes from industry insider Justin Leeper who previously worked on the WWE SmackDown vs. Raw series as well as other WWE games as a narrative leader. According to Leeper, he stated that “reliable sources” have confirmed that the series is taking the year off and as a result, will not be working on the next installment. Additionally, Leeper has stated that there are plans for a "different kind of WWE game" this year instead.
Back in December, the industry insider reported that WWE 2K21's future wasn't looking so good and how multiple developers quit due to WWE 2K20's negative reviews and poor sales. As a result of the negativity surrounding the game, there were reports that claimed how the budget for WWE 2K21 would be significantly cut and how the future for the game was looking dicey overall. Fast forward to today, it would seem that the alleged reports are starting to come true.
To further support the rumors, WWE itself usually starts to reveal details about new WWE 2K games around the time of Wrestlemania. Furthermore, the games would typically start motion capture around this time too, but there haven't been any news or reports of that as well. Ultimately, WWE 2K21's existence remains questionable until 2K Sports confirms anything.
If the rumors do turn out to be true, then a whole new WWE game will release this year instead. As Leeper explains, the new WWE game will not be developed by Visual Concepts, although it will still be published by 2K Sports. However, Leeper “could say more” about the new game but didn't because he believes he has already angered some people at 2K Sports, and does not want to mess with the marketing department.
As far as WWE 2K22 goes, Leeper stated that the game will not be developed for future generation consoles, but will instead be developed for the PS4, Xbox One and "probably PC."
Source: SegmentNext