Photo credit: Gamezo
It is an interesting sight to behold with the power and input from esports, making their way into traditional sports such as football, basketball, and golf, steadily pushing viewership and ratings to the roof. Wrestling, specifically theWWEhas encountered a tremendous change of sorts ever since its involvement with gaming, and with their collaboration withTake Two Interactive(leading game publisher with the titles “Marvel’s Midnight Suns”, theNBA 2Kseries,Grand Theft Auto), the sport has moved from being a television-sought sport to now gradually establishing its spot in the world of esports.
THQ Vs 2K | Photo credit: TheGreatOne!, YouTube
Former publishers of the game THQ, (nowTHQ Nordic) had to let go of the WWE franchise it had for long held ownership for since 2000 aftergoing bankruptin 2012, auctioning off and selling the games’ rights to Take Two Interactive, and sold the name to Nordic, which is now THQ Nordic. Was that a good move? Certainly, seeing that the fans of these games needed to be catered for after garnering a large following from not just the weekly programs but the games’ franchise too, andevolution of WWE gamesfrom 1983 to 2012 was about to experience a new turnaround in gaming.
WWE Icon Edition | Photo credit: Business Wire
The takeover from Take Two has led to some of the best product titles the world of entertainment sports and esports has seen, with the most recent being theWWE 2K23, having John Cena – the Executive Soundtrack Producer – as the cover Superstar for the game and with the following incredible new additions: 2K Showcase Starring John Cena, WarGames, MyGM,MyFACTION, MyRISE, Universe andCreation Suite. These give players more room to create a unique world for the Superstars, grooming careers to managing the shows, creating feuds and factions to even designing moves, arenas, championships, etc
The WWE2K entry into esports leans more into the MyFACTION feature, where wrestlers provided are in limited selection competing in single matches, tag teams and a rumble, creating conditions to make players be on an even playing field for competitive gaming. There is still a chance to make some bank off of the WWE betting with theirpartnershipwith DraftKings for match predictions, and play tournaments while the aspects of prize pools are still being developed.
Esports has helped create jobs for lots of people. Interested in knowing about the business side of esports? Listen to the Gamers Change Lives Podcast! We get experienced guests from all around the world featuring.
By Jeffrey Osei-Agyeman
