As is being reported by VGC, a leaker by the name of ‘Aggiornamenti Lumia’ uploaded a tweet with details about the upcoming 2K Sports title, WWE 2K23, showing off its alleged box art, and claiming that its release date shall be March 17, 2023. The supposed box art, as seen below, will feature none other than long-time WWE superstar (and Hollywood star, at this point), John Cena, doing his trademark “You Can’t See Me” pose.
According to VGC, ‘Aggiornamenti Lumia’ is a reliable dataminer, who has previously accurately reported on listings for Xbox and Windows store titles before they’re officially announced. Such a release date would match the game’s predecessor, WWE 2K22, which launched on March 11, 2022, making it clearer than ever that 2K is returning to an annualized release schedule with this franchise.
About a week ago, it was reported that WWE 2K23 would possibly be announced on January 28 during the federation’s real-life Royal Rumble event. It would allegedly allow for “hands-on gameplay opportunities,” as well as a new game mode announcement. To further corroborate this, the official WWE 2K account recently tweeted a mat with the WWE 2K logo on it, a 2K23 hashtag, and an emoji that says “Soon.”
Not much is known about the title itself, but, if this leak is to be believed, then the cover states that the game will be cross-gen, meaning it will be available on older consoles like PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, as well as PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X|S.
WWE 2K22 was also a cross-gen, but it still was generally celebrated for being a return to form for the franchise. The WWE gaming series was originally handled by a Japanese development studio called Yuke’s, this even before 2K Sports took over. However, after WWE 2K19, there was some fallout between the two entities, and 2K moved development of the franchise over to Visual Concepts, the team responsible for NBA 2K. Its first game, WWE 2K20, was one of the worst-received titles in the franchise’s history, sporting numerous glitches, bugs, and what many considered to be a general lack of polish.
Due to this, 2K Sports went two years without releasing a WWE title, despite the series having been annualized since 2013. Visual Concepts returned with 2022’s WWE 2K22, which seemingly gave the developers the time they needed to make a much more functional product, as it was much better received by critics and users alike.
