Rumors of a lucrative transition to EA have been dispelled by the announcement that WWE 2K23 will arrive just before this year’s WrestleMania. The sports mega-publisher reportedly had plans to acquire the franchise, but WWE stayed with dependable developer 2K, with promising results. It’s been practised, and everything is moving smoothly. In addition to the debut teaser for WWE 2K23 and a tonne of other important details, there is more information about that below. The entire WWE 2K23 guide from GR covers all of your wrestling needs.
What will be the WWE 2K23 release date?
In the past, pre-Christmas WWE simulation games were a tradition. That changed as a result of the terrible reviews for WWE 2K20 and the consequent cancellation of WWE 2K21. The biggest yearly wrestling event, WrestleMania, was shifted to a release window for WWE 2K22. That new standard is still in effect this year, as it turns out.
Friday, March 17 is the set release date for WWE 2K23. The Deluxe or Icon Editions, on the other hand, can be downloaded three days beforehand, on March 14, for those who pre-order them. In a moment, more on those.
What are the bonuses for pre-ordering WWE 2K23?
Now that the references above have been explained, good. The primary pre-order incentive is Bad Bunny, a rapper from Puerto Rico who has made intermittent but noteworthy appearances in WWE over the past two years. Along with Bad Bunny’s Ruby Edition MyFaction card, he is completely playable and included in the standard edition for use throughout the game.
There are also two special editions available to pre-order. Here’s what you get in each, in addition to those Bad Bunny goodies.
WWE 2K23 Deluxe Edition
- Early Access – Access to the game three days early.
- Full Season Pass – All five post-launch DLC character packs, MyRise Mega-Boost pack, 200 additional.
- Attribute Points and the Supercharger pack instantly unlocks all base-game WWE Legends and old-school arenas.
- Deluxe Edition Bonus Pack – John Cena EVO card, Emerald-tier Bianca Belair, and Gold-tier Asuka and Edge cards. It also comes with additional three Basic Day 1 MyFaction card packs.
WWE 2K23 Icon Edition
- Early Access – Access to the game three days early.
- Ruthless Aggression Pack – Old-school versions of John Cena, Randy Orton, Batista, and Brock.
- Lesnar with the additional WrestleMania 22 arena, and John Cena Legacy Championship.
- Full Season Pass – Same as the Deluxe Edition – all five post-launch DLC character packs, MyRise.
- Mega-Boost pack, 200 additional Attribute Points, and the Supercharger pack that instantly unlocks all base-game WWE Legends and old-school arenas.
- Deluxe Edition Bonus Pack – Includes a John Cena EVO card, Emerald-tier Bianca Belair, and Gold-tier.
- Asuka and Edge cards, plus three Basic Day 1 MyFaction card packs.
- Icon Edition Bonus Pack – Comes with a Paul Heyman Emerald tier Manager MyFaction Card and additional three Deluxe Premium Launch MyFaction Packs.
Who is the WWE 2K23 cover star?
Since starring in WWE 2K14, over eleven years ago, 16-time world champion John Cena earns his first series cover. He has three covers altogether, one for WWE 2K23’s ordinary edition, one for the Deluxe Edition, and one for the Icon Edition.
Cena is the centre of the Showcase Mode’s return and also appears on the box art. You relive well-known bouts that the man himself introduced, just like in previous years, but with a twist. This time around, in order to advance and unlock the last legends and arenas, you must defeat John Cena in each match. In memorable matches against Mr. You-Can’t-See-Me, you can control Rob Van Dam, Kurt Angle, Batista, and more thanks to this variety.
What WWE 2K23 gameplay features are new?
WWE 2K23 is mostly concerned with building on the strong foundations of WWE 2K22, as you can read about in our preview of the new title. Matches now have a similar feel to one another, but with some nice incremental improvements. By flicking the right stick up at the appropriate time on a timing bar, for instance, you can now kick out of pin attempts. It’s a deft, clever approach to replicating reality.
WarGames is by far the most significant new addition. In this novel form of match, two three-person teams face off inside separate rings inside a single long steel cage. Once all six combatants are inside, the situation becomes utter chaos as teammates join at staggered intervals and have the option to bring weapons with them. Playable offline and online, in two different arenas: NXT and Survivor Series.
The development team claims it was a tremendous struggle to fit WarGames in. Lead gameplay designer Derek Donahue said that having two rings shouldn’t be a problem because you can just duplicate one and paste it into the other location. Actually, it required completely overhauling the engine. “The premise that the ring is at the centre of the earth and the ropes are situated at a specific distance from it with four corners is one that is baked into the game. As soon as you inserted another ring, everything you did fell apart. To make two rings function, we had to redesign every interaction in the game. And after that, you have a [bigger] cage.
Who’s going to be on the WWE 2K23 roster?
An abundance of new blood. When it came to the WWE 2K22 DLC, Visual Concepts did a fantastic job of including a tonne of new characters whose ascent to Raw or Smackdown happened later in the production cycle. Omos, Rick Boogs, Piper Niven (AKA Doudrop), and Commander Azeez will therefore undoubtedly all be in WWE 2K23 at the game’s release.
Cody Rhodes, the company’s most significant signing of 2022, as well as a number of good guys and evil guys who have become well-known in NXT, join them. Bron Breakker, a future female celebrity, and Rick Steiner’s son Rick Steiner are the leaders of the group. Using our WWE 2K23 roster guide, you can keep track of every wrestler as they are officially announced.
Additionally, 2K has committed to releasing five DLC packs after the game’s debut. The names of these are to be revealed later, but GR anticipates that they will include WWE additions from the fall and winter of 2022 who just missed the cut-off date for the on-disc roster. Emma, Karl Anderson, Luke Gallows, and Valhalla—the woman formerly known as Sarah Logan—are the people in question.
What wrestlers were dropped from WWE 2K23?
Also says a tearful goodbye to a sizable portion of the lineup from the previous game. Eleven of the characters from WWE 2K22 have now joined the roster of the competing AEW, hence they will no longer be in the game. These are:
- Ariya Daivari (M, 70)
- Cesaro (M, 84)
- Isaiah Scott (M, 80)
- Jake Roberts (M, 85)
- Jeff Hardy (M, 85)
- Keith Lee (M, 80)
- Kyle O’Reilly (M, 81)
- Murphy (M, 77)
- Samoa Joe (M, 86)
- Ember Moon (F, 81)
- Toni Storm (F, 80)
Nearly 50 wrestlers in all are no longer employed by the organisation after contributing to WWE 2K22. Therefore, there is absolutely no way that Tyler Breeze, Fandango, Lana, Mickie James, or Lana will be on the WWE 2K23 roster.
Was WWE 2K23 ever truly at risk?
What an interesting question. By reviving the series with authentic physicality, user-friendly mechanics, and significant cosmetic changes in WWE 2K22, Visual Concepts overcame the failure that was WWE 2K20. It received 3.5 stars from GR, and updates have since strengthened it.
After the game’s release, however, allegations surfaced that WWE may have secretly severed its relationship with 2K, with 2K22 serving as the franchise’s swan song. WWE and EA have even held conversations, according to the wrestling publication Fightful, in March. The company’s May financial call had praise for the most recent release from new boss Stephanie McMahon but no mention of 2K23.
“We worked closely with our partners at Take-Two Interactive, listened to our customers and fans, and earned their trust by delivering a game that exceeded their expectations,” she said. “After taking a little more than a year off to improve the game engine, we worked hand in glove with our partners at Take-Two Interactive.” The highest Metacritic scores in the franchise’s history on both the Xbox and PlayStation platforms can be found in “WWE 2K22,” which was both a commercial and critical success.
However, it’s all turned out rosily for now. WWE 2K23 is official – and shaping up promisingly, too.
What made the WWE 2K23 features wishlist?
Excellent independent fan site Operation Sports has several great recommendations for WWE 2K23. Luke Skywalker was eager to see rosters that were shareable. For instance, a fan could make a whole roster for WCW 1996, which you could then download all at once. He wants the most modifications made to GM Mode, with roster adjustments being the most alluring suggestion: “A wrestler is fired from the business or hired, [or you] bring in freshly created wrestlers in an existing Season mode. The roster won’t be the same in three years, in my opinion. Hell, some of the roster members aren’t even currently employed by WWE.
Custom entrance themes are often at the top of fans’ wishlists, but as SmashMan explains, technical limitations probably make this impossible. In the PS4/X1 era, “custom music disappeared. We had that in the PS3/360 gen,” he writes. “The only titles that I’m aware of that enable custom soundtracks are MLB The Show and Fire Pro Wrestling, and since The Show went multiplatform, they removed the feature from the PS5 edition. This one may not have received the same level of support from Xbox as Sony did or does, therefore it was left off to maintain parity between platforms.
Here are the links where you can buy this game on Amazon:
