With WWE Universe now in development for well over a year, fans have been itching to find out when they would have the opportunity to play the game. Outside of a select few who have had access to the beta, there has been little released from developer Glu Mobile Inc. in terms of gameplay videos.
Now fans have only a little longer to wait, as pre-registration is open and will award players with a series of gifts if done before the official launch date of May 28 for both iOS and Android. Fans are curious to find out how the game will handles different modes and eras like Hall of Fame characters, since Steve Austin is shown on the pre-registration page. Will WrestleMania focus on contemporary wrestlers, or will there be a free-for-all fantasy of the greats from thirty years ago up against the best from today? Unfortunately, no news has been released, and there is currently some cause for concern considering the lack of communication from the developer.
The Initial gameplay footage was shown in a trailer from February of 2018, so the finished product is likely to look different and hopefully, more polished. This should go without saying but given the poor quality of the first gameplay reveal, there would be little chance for this game to succeed if it has not been touched up.
This is in part to the wide selection of other games available to consumers, but also because fans of the show already have a great WWE mobile game that updates frequently and looks fantastic. WWE Supercard was launched in 2014 and has since received timely updates, is constantly rotating between events, and is well-balanced. Not only that, WWE Supercard is often among the top apps in the Sports genre, currently at number 7 in the United States and Canada in usage rank on Android systems. As this trailer reveals, there is considerable effort put into making Supercard look and feel great.
What will it take for Universe to overtake Supercard, or at least be considered a worthwhile use of time, and more importantly for the developers, consumer dollars on microtransactions? Well, gameplay is certainly going to be a major factor, but the level of presentation is even more important than normal because Supercard has set that bar so high.
There is also an uphill battle to fight in terms of consumer expectations and communication. As mentioned, Universe has had almost no major advertising or promotion before today, while Supercard fans are always given a heads up about the direction of the game and future events.
Over the next few weeks, we will find out of WWE Universe has been worth the wait, or if it will flounder because of all these individual issues, any one of which could be problematic for a game, but together could make it a Titantic-style sinking.