Video Game studio Yuke’s plans to produce a wrestling-related video game to compete with the WWE 2K franchise. This might sound confusing as Yuke’s also works with the 2K team on the WWE 2K games. The studio is hoping to increase creativity amongst its developers through internal competition.
“I think having no competitor isn’t healthy at all,” said Hiromi Furuta, Yuke’s Vice President when speaking to the Video Games Chronicle. “When we had competitors in the wrestling space, we were determined not to lose and that was a great motivator for creating something great.”
Much like the Monday Night Wars created competition between wrestling promotions, Yuke’s is hoping their own internal competition will spark new ideas in their field.
“We are trying to launch a new wrestling game,” she continued in regards to Yuke’s plans. “Of course, we will retain the WWE team, but we are also aware that our creators are beginning to lose sight of their passion and confidence and becoming focused only on completing assigned tasks. That’s not the direction Yuke’s wants to go in. So, in order to compensate, we’re going to start a new wrestling project.”
WWE 2K vs Yuke’s New Game
The question then becomes, what will this new game be?
“We’re not chasing money or trends,” Furuta continued. “We’ll go in whatever direction we feel is most interesting, combined with the passion of whoever leads the project. As long as whoever leads the project has enough passion, then I’m sure we will achieve our goals.”
Furuta said the project is at its early stages.
“It is a project dear to our hearts and has even become a part of some of the veteran creators’ lives,” she continued. “We have a huge history making these games and still have a good relationship with 2K. Anyhow, WWE would never allow us to stop making these games! However, the new project we have in mind will be the internal competition for WWE.”
