This article was originally written for TheNintendoVillage.com, a website I founded and ran from 2018 to 2021.

2K have announced a brand new WWE title in the form of WWE 2K Battlegrounds. Taking it’s cues from the more lighthearted NBA 2K Playgrounds series, WWE 2K Battlegrounds will reportedly focus on pick-up-and-play style gameplay, with over-the-top environments, moves and Superstar designs.

There’s no word on which platforms the series is coming to as yet. WWE 2K19 and WWE 2K20 skipped the Switch after 2018’s version of the game was to all intents and purposes, a buggy mess. However, the Playgrounds series has been generally well received on Switch, so here’s hoping the wrasslin’ version of the franchise holds up.

The game is currently slated for a Fall release. Check out the teaser trailer for a brief glimpse on what to expect:

As for the main WWE 2K franchise, the publisher have issued an open letter addressing the concerns players had with the last game, explaining the decision to skip a year, and responding to fans’ requests to keep the servers for WWE 2K19 open:

Next, we want to address WWE 2K20. We’ve heard and appreciate your feedback, and continue to listen to you closely. Since launch, we’ve released five title updates, addressing hundreds of reported concerns, and have released four WWE 2K20 Originals DLC expansions to build on and improve the experience. We’ve also heard your requests to keep the WWE 2K19 servers running; they will remain active for the time being.
All of that being said, we hear you and we know you want more from the franchise, so here’s what we’re going to do: we are applying what we’ve learned to the next WWE 2K simulation game with a renewed focus on quality and fun. As part of that commitment, we are extending the production timeline and will not be releasing a WWE 2K simulation game in 2020 (T2 fiscal year 2021). We want to ensure the development team at Visual Concepts can create a great game that will entertain grizzled WWE 2K veterans, as well as newcomers who want to climb through the ropes and step into the ring for the very first time.
We’ve recruited Patrick Gilmore to serve as our new Executive Producer and lead these efforts at Visual Concepts. Patrick has over 25 years of experience in video games, reaching all the way back to Disney’s Aladdin on Sega Genesis, and including franchises like Killer Instinct, Medal of Honor, and, most recently, Amazon’s New World. He will be overseeing WWE 2K development, and you’ll be hearing more from him and the team in the months to come.
We hope you find this news as exciting as we do. We are confident it will lead to better games in the future.

Whether or not the extended development time for the next sim entry translates into another crack at a Switch port remains to be seen.

Do you like the look of WWE 2K Battlegrounds? Hoping it comes to Switch? Let us know down in the comments.

Source: 2K PR