WWE Rebranded as WWE 2K14 Under 2K Sports Label

2K has officially inked a five-year deal to publish WWE games. Under the 2K Sports label, the next WWE title will be re-branded as WWE 2K14 and Visual Concepts will be brought in to assist longtime WWE developer Yukes with the game. WWE 2K14 is still scheduled to arrive this fall.

“We looked at a lot of different leaders in the industry and talked to all of the big guys, and for us, we had been with THQ for so many years, it was nice to finally go out and date a few other companies and see what kind of thought process they had about the video game industry going forward,” WWE executive VP of consumer products Casey Collins told ESPN. “As we look at the next-gen systems coming out, whether that’s this holiday or next holiday, we want to make sure we align our property with who we thought would be a leader going forward on these next-gen systems.”

“With Yukes, we have a lot of history, and we’ve been very happy with what Yukes has done in the past,” Collins added. “What we’re going to do moving forward is meld Yukes with the team at Visual Concepts, so we can have the best of both worlds. Having Yukes’ experience and then getting the Visual Concepts guys on board with them, we think this is going to be a dynamic duo.”

2K will bring “some of the key designers behind the WWE gaming franchise” over from THQ. Collins also said that “the THQ Fight Team is also being brought over, and they’ll report directly to Visual Concepts. Their experience in the marketing, their experience in the development, their experience with our franchise for years. We thought that it was very valuable to keep that continuity.”

Take-Two confirmed its acquisition of the WWE license last week following a report from IGN in January. Keep checking back to IGN for more details on WWE 2K14 as they’re announced.

Andrew Goldfarb is IGN’s news editor. Keep up with pictures of the latest food he’s been eating by following @garfep on Twitter or garfep on IGN.

Source : feeds[dot]ign[dot]com