In an interview with Inside the Ropes, the writer for Smackdown vs. RAW, Justin Leeper, talked about what went wrong with WWE 2K20, which was universally criticized at its launch. Here are the highlights:
On the right time: “Well, it was a very difficult situation because whoever you believe in the timeline, Yuke’s was no longer on the project for 2K20 and they have always been on the project for 20 years. They built the car that was pulling the game to stores every year and when you don’t have the driver and the mechanic there and try to put someone else in the driver’s seat, it will always be difficult, especially with that crunch time. “
On the importance of Yuke’s: “Yuke had flaws, but what they did was always working very hard. I was going to visit them in January, in Yokohama, and people were sleeping under their desks. It is heartbreaking to see how hard they had to work, but also, they had to work hard to get this kind of production to make these types of games. Say what you want about the breadth of the series, what is good, what is bad and what looks easy to use or whatever – making a game in 11 months is very difficult. Yuke’s put up with the pressure and they did it well and were always kind and always humble and always good to work with. “
In Visual Concepts, not being equipped to assume: “When you get rid of these people, you have to fill them, you have to replace them with someone. Visual Concepts was not equipped to do the kind of production and sacrifices that I think Yuke made to launch these games. It’s such a difficult thing for them to do, and I think when we saw that they weren’t there … and it’s their engine! They built it, regardless of whether there were rusted screws and duct tape holding things, they set it up and knew it better than anyone. So for a company in California to sit there and try to take over, it’s a lost prospect, but they had to launch something. I don’t condone the game for getting out of this situation, but I know what happens in making games, and those games in particular, and how valuable Yuke was. “