Following a typical yearly release schedule, Take-Two Interactive [stock_market_widget type="inline" template="generic" color="default" assets="TTWO" markup="(NASDAQ: {symbol} {currency_symbol}{price} ({change_pct}))" api="yf"] and the WWE [stock_market_widget type="inline" template="generic" color="default" assets="WWE" markup="(NYSE: {symbol} {currency_symbol}{price} ({change_pct}))" api="yf"] teamed up again to launch WWE2K20 this week on PC, Xbox One, and PS4.
The last of the major branded sports games to launch this year, WWE2K20 was an eagerly anticipated title that saw pre-launch hype through a charity partnership with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.
Developed by Visual Concepts and published by Take-Two subsidiary 2K Sports, this latest iteration in the series is notable for featuring a female wrestler as a cover star for the first time in franchise history. Unfortunately for fans, it has also become noteworthy for extremely negative reviews since launch.
Just ahead of the negative review onslaught, Visual Concepts President Greg Thomas commented:
So far players do not share that enthusiasm, as the game currently features 75% negative reviews on PC gaming platform Steam and has managed to hit a nearly rock bottom 1.7 score out of 10 at review roundup site Metacritic.
Reviewers have frequently cited missing textures — including vanishing wrestler faces — as well as major animation glitches, bugs that cause multiple wrestlers to spawn in the ring, crashes during single player modes, and severe lag when facing opponents in multiplayer matches.
Negative fan backlash has gained enough traction for the hashtag #FixWWE2K20 to trend on Twitter today.
Although branded annual franchises are seen as cash cows for major publishers, releasing new iterations on tight timetables can have unintended consequences.
Much like WWE2K20 is currently experiencing, previous entries in the Assassin’s Creed and Call Of Duty franchises famously saw negative fan backlash for individual lacklustre releases.
The tanking reviews have dashed hopes to see a larger eSports presence for wrestling games this holiday season, which so far haven’t made the same inroads as other genres despite a built-in rabid fan base that already takes part in extensive live events.
WWE2K20 is unlikely to see serious play at any major eSports events until patches arrives to fix the lengthy list of bugs mentioned in negative reviews across the web.
