2K Global Communications Manager Addresses WWE 2K’s Reputation

The trailer for WWE 2K22 was released during Night 1 of WrestleMania 37, showing fans the first look at the reintroduction of the WWE 2K franchise.

WWE 2K22 is set to use the tagline 'It Hits Different.' Speaking on the WWE 2K22 pre-brief, 2K Global Communications Manager Al Stavola emphasized that the tagline goes beyond gameplay.

"We want that to be clear that it doesn't just apply to the game itself," Stavola said. "It applies to the way we market the game, the way we communicate the game with press, content creators, and our community. We want to try out a lot of new ideas; we want to bring everyone along for the journey. You're going to be seeing things earlier than before. You're going to be seeing kind of a deeper, more behind the scenes look at things than you have in the past."

The WWE 2K franchise went in a new direction last year with the release of WWE 2K Battlegrounds, an arcade-style fighting game similar to 2011's WWE All Stars. Battlegrounds replaced the planned WWE 2K21, which was cancelled due to development issues. Before that, the WWE 2K franchise dealt with heavy criticism for WWE 2K20, a game tainted by bugs at launch, glitches during gameplay, and numerous other technical issues. The game received the lowest reviews of the franchise from critics.

Stavola noted that the 2K team is aware of the current reputation of the WWE 2K franchise, and is working hard to ensure 2K22 brings back the strong quality of past games.

"We think transparency is really important. We certainly are cognisant of the reception of the franchise," Stavola said. "We want to show that this is a completely different and new step in the right direction, so we're going to be communicating early and often."

You can see the first look trailer below: