WWE 2K14 in development at Visual Concepts and Yuke’s

Take-Two signs five-year licensing agreement

Following the collapse of THQ, it was rumored that Take-Two Interactive had picked up the rights to the WWE game license, and that is indeed what happened. The five-year agreement will see its first title, WWE 2K14, later this fall according to 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,” said WWE VP of consumer products Casey Collins. Development of this first game will be handled by Yuke’s (you knew this was coming) and Take-Two’s Visual Concepts.

“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,” explained Collins. “Having Yukes’ experience and then getting the Visual Concepts guys on board with them, we think this is going to be a dynamic duo. 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.”

WWE, Take-Two agree to deal on ‘WWE 2K’ [ESPN via Polygon]