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WWE 2K23

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WWE 2K23
Standard edition cover featuringJohn Cena
Developer(s)Visual Concepts
Publisher(s)2K
SeriesWWE 2K
Platform(s)
ReleaseMarch 14, 2023
Genre(s)Sports
Mode(s)Single-player,multiplayer

WWE 2K23is a 2023professional wrestlingsportsvideo game developed byVisual Conceptsand published by2K.[1]It is the twenty-third overall installment ofthe video game seriesbased onWWE,the ninth game under theWWE 2Kbanner, and the successor toWWE 2K22.It was released on March 14, 2023, forPlayStation 4,PlayStation 5,Windows,Xbox One,andXbox Series X/S.[2]

WWE 2K23received generally favorable reviews upon release, and it is the highest-rated professional wrestling video game sinceWWE '13.The follow-up title,WWE 2K24,was released on March 8, 2024.

Gameplay[edit]

John Cenastars in all three versions of the cover.

Like its predecessor,WWE 2K23features arcade and simulation wrestling gameplay.[3][4]WarGamesis featured for the first time in a WWE 2K game, and theRoyal Rumble matchnow supports online multiplayer with up to eight players.[5]Refereevoiceovers have been revamped with different voices and unique lines when thepinfalloccurs.

Game modes such as MyFACTION, MyGM, Showcase, Universe, career mode MyRISE and a full creation suite return with new features.[6][7][8]Showcase features cover starJohn Cenaand allows players to recreate key moments in Cena's career, playing as his opponents, culminating in three dream matches: two matches involving Cena and any one of the opponents he faced during the showcase in theRawarena: One where Cena quickly uses his finisher, the Attitude Adjustment, to score a pinfall victory, the other facing off against an invincible version of himself, known as "Super Cena", and afatal-4-way elimination matchat theWrestleMania 38arena between Cena,Stone Cold Steve Austin,Hulk Hogan,andBruno Sammartino.

MyRISE features two distinct storylines: "The Lock" and "The Legacy". The Lock follows a male wrestler making his debut on the WWE main roster. The Legacy follows a female second-generation wrestler rising through the ranks, aided by her aunt's rivalMolly Holly.[9]

Development[edit]

According to Creative Director Lynell Jinks, the WarGames match type began development prior toWWE 2K22,and was made possible by the reworked engine following the failure ofWWE 2K20.[10]

Developer Andrea Listenberger told Fightful that the two storylines in MyRISE were written by former WWE writers.[11]

On February 15, 2023, 2K released entrance footage of returning characterLita,which caused controversy onsocial media.Fans were critical of Lita's character model, citing a perceived lack of quality and the reuse of an attire which had been used fromWWE 2K16in 2015 toWWE 2K20in 2019.[12]Lita's model received alterations to the face prior to the release of the game.[13]Lita '06 became a playable character as an answer to the criticism for the base model; an alternative attire is also available.

Roster[edit]

WWE 2K23features 246 superstars. It is the first title in the WWE 2K series to assign different attires to a single slot, namely forRoman Reigns,AJ Styles,Lita and certain Cena models.

Release[edit]

On January 23, 2023,WWE 2K23was officially announced with John Cena as the cover star.Bad Bunnywas also announced as a playable character for players that pre-order the game, or purchase the Deluxe or Icon editions.[2]The Bad Bunny edition was released on October 23, 2023, which includes all of the Icon Edition contents, as well as Bad Bunny'sBacklash 2023attire.[14]A similar bundle, which included the base game and both Bad Bunny packs, was released on October 18, 2023.

On January 30, 2K released behind-the-scenes footage ofCody Rhodesbeing scanned, who makes his first appearance under his real name since the 2014 gameWWE 2K15following his return atWrestleMania 38,now under his nickname, "The American Nightmare".[15]

The Deluxe Edition includes aseason passfor futuredownloadable content,MyFACTION bonuses, and three days of early access on March 14. The Icon Edition features all Deluxe Edition content, as well as the "Ruthless Aggression Pack" which contains: classicOVWversions of Cena,Randy Orton,Brock LesnarandBatista,theWrestleMania 22arena, additional MyFACTION bonuses, and the John Cena Legacy Championship.[16]

On March 6, 2023, the downloadable content for the game was announced. Five content packs containing 24 playable characters these were released from April to August, including superstars fromRaw,SmackDown,NXTand Legends.[17]These characters include:Bray Wyatt,Wade Barrett,Eve Torres,Zeus,Harley Race,theSteiner Brothers,Pretty DeadlyandHit Rowamong others.

Reception[edit]

WWE 2K23received "generally favorable reviews" according toreview aggregatorMetacritic.[18][19][20]

In a preview of the game, Dale Driver fromIGNobserved that the game largely felt the same as its predecessor with a few improvements.[33] IGN noted greater flexibility and creativity in the game compared to its predecessors.[34]

Awards and Nominations[edit]

Year Ceremony Category Result Ref.
2024 27th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards Sports Game of the Year Nominated [35]

References[edit]

  1. ^"WWE 2K23".WWE 2K23 Official Website.Archivedfrom the original on November 1, 2022.RetrievedFebruary 7,2023.
  2. ^abReed, Chris (January 23, 2023)."WWE 2K23: Here's What Comes in Each Edition".IGN.Archived fromthe originalon January 23, 2023.RetrievedJanuary 21,2024.
  3. ^James, Dean (February 3, 2023)."Hands-On Preview: WWE 2K23 Builds Upon Last Year's Return To Form".MSN.Archivedfrom the original on February 7, 2023.RetrievedFebruary 7,2023.
  4. ^Driver, Dale (February 2, 2023)."WWE 2K23 Hands-On Preview".IGN.Archivedfrom the original on February 7, 2023.RetrievedFebruary 7,2023.
  5. ^Sajid, Hassan (February 2, 2023)."New WWE 2K23 gameplay trailer shows the new WarGames mode and more".Xfire.Archivedfrom the original on February 9, 2023.RetrievedFebruary 9,2023.
  6. ^Norton, Brad (March 1, 2023)."Everything we know about WWE 2K23: Release date, roster, new match types, more".Dexerto.Archivedfrom the original on February 7, 2023.RetrievedFebruary 7,2023.
  7. ^Makar, Connor (February 2, 2023)."WWE 2K23 Preview: the first real step towards a bright future".VG247.Archivedfrom the original on February 7, 2023.RetrievedFebruary 7,2023.
  8. ^Wilson, Ben (February 2, 2023)."WWE 2K23 preview: WarGames, Showcase and the return of Cody Rhodes".GamesRadar+.Archivedfrom the original on February 7, 2023.RetrievedFebruary 7,2023.
  9. ^Williams, Leah J. (March 8, 2023)."WWE 2K23: MyRISE will feature two original storylines".GamesHub.Archivedfrom the original on March 13, 2023.RetrievedMarch 13,2023.
  10. ^"WWE 2K23 Developers Talk About The Challenges Integrating WarGames Match".Yahoo!.February 6, 2023.Archivedfrom the original on February 7, 2023.RetrievedFebruary 7,2023.
  11. ^"411MANIA".WWE 2K23 Developer On Writing MyRise Mode.Archivedfrom the original on March 12, 2023.RetrievedMarch 13,2023.
  12. ^Lentini, Robert (February 16, 2023)."'This is not Lita!' – Wrestling fans react to Hall of Famer's character design in WWE 2K23 ".Sportskeeda.Archivedfrom the original on March 13, 2023.RetrievedMarch 13,2023.
  13. ^Dalton Derrick [@PhoenixNitro] (March 7, 2023)."Lita's initial model was one of the worst I've ever seen. I was very excited and shocked to see that Lita was updated before launch. I think this looks a lot better than what was initially shown! Still not perfect, but I'll take it compared to what was shown haha"(Tweet).RetrievedMarch 13,2023– viaTwitter.
  14. ^Scullion, Chris (January 23, 2023)."WWE 2K23 has been officially confirmed for a March release".Video Games Chronicle.Archivedfrom the original on March 13, 2023.RetrievedMarch 13,2023.
  15. ^Noah, Steve (January 31, 2023)."WWE 2K23 Cody Rhodes Entrance & Behind the Scenes Videos".Operation Sports.Archivedfrom the original on March 13, 2023.RetrievedMarch 13,2023.
  16. ^Reed, Chris (March 7, 2023)."WWE 2K23: Here's What Comes in Each Edition".IGN.Archivedfrom the original on March 13, 2023.RetrievedMarch 13,2023.
  17. ^SimoneSDH."WWE 2K23 DLC List: All Characters Packs and Release Dates".The SmackDown Hotel.Archivedfrom the original on March 13, 2023.RetrievedMarch 13,2023.
  18. ^ab"WWE 2K23 for PC Reviews".Metacritic.Archivedfrom the original on March 24, 2023.RetrievedMarch 24,2023.
  19. ^ab"WWE 2K23 for PlayStation 5 Reviews".Metacritic.Archivedfrom the original on March 13, 2023.RetrievedMarch 13,2023.
  20. ^ab"WWE 2K23 for Xbox Series X Reviews".Metacritic.Archivedfrom the original on March 12, 2023.RetrievedMarch 13,2023.
  21. ^Handley, Zoey (March 21, 2023)."Review: WWE 2K23".Destructoid.Archivedfrom the original on March 21, 2023.RetrievedMarch 21,2023.
  22. ^Colantonio, Giovanni (March 14, 2023)."WWE 2K23 review: the wrestling comeback story continues".Digital Trends.Archivedfrom the original on March 14, 2023.RetrievedMarch 14,2023.
  23. ^Stewart, Marcus (March 17, 2023)."WWE 2K23 Review - Tightening Some Holds".Game Informer.Archivedfrom the original on March 18, 2023.RetrievedMarch 17,2023.
  24. ^Wakeling, Richard (March 20, 2023)."WWE 2K23 Review - Head Of The Table".GameSpot.Archivedfrom the original on March 20, 2023.RetrievedMarch 20,2023.
  25. ^Wilson, Ben (March 13, 2023)."WWE 2K23 review:" The series is finally back on top form "".GamesRadar+.Archivedfrom the original on March 13, 2023.RetrievedMarch 13,2023.
  26. ^Wells, Cory (March 13, 2023)."Review: WWE 2K23".Hardcore Gamer.Archivedfrom the original on March 13, 2023.RetrievedMarch 13,2023.
  27. ^Green, Jarrett (March 17, 2023)."WWE 2K23 Review".IGN.Archivedfrom the original on March 17, 2023.RetrievedMarch 17,2023.
  28. ^Rodriguez, Jason (March 14, 2023)."'WWE 2K23' review: a return to form for the franchise ".NME.Archivedfrom the original on March 14, 2023.RetrievedMarch 14,2023.
  29. ^Potter, Ben (March 13, 2023)."WWE 2K23 Review (PS5)".Push Square.Archivedfrom the original on March 13, 2023.RetrievedMarch 13,2023.
  30. ^Tan, Nick (March 13, 2023)."WWE 2K23 review: Repeated strikes".Shacknews.Archivedfrom the original on March 13, 2023.RetrievedMarch 13,2023.
  31. ^Madnani, Mikhail (March 21, 2023)."'WWE 2K23' Steam Deck Review – Shockingly Good, but Needs More Work ".TouchArcade.Archivedfrom the original on March 21, 2023.RetrievedMarch 21,2023.
  32. ^Borthwick, Ben (March 16, 2023)."WWE 2K23 Review – Head of the Table?".VideoGamer.com.Archivedfrom the original on March 16, 2023.RetrievedMarch 16,2023.
  33. ^Driver, Dale (February 2, 2023)."WWE 2K23 Hands-On Preview".IGN.Archivedfrom the original on February 7, 2023.RetrievedFebruary 9,2023.
  34. ^Green, Jarrett (March 17, 2023)."WWE 2K23 Review".IGN.Archivedfrom the original on March 29, 2023.RetrievedMarch 29,2023.
  35. ^"2024 Awards Category Details Sports Game of the Year".interactive.org.Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences.RetrievedFebruary 16,2024.

External links[edit]

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=WWE_2K23&oldid=1231546680"