WWE RPG in development, but what kind of role-playing game will it actually be?


In a surprising move, it was recently revealed that a WWE RPG is currently in development, but few other details were given.

We're taking a closer look at the options on the table and what kind of role-playing game this WWE RPG could actually end up being.

Stephanie McMahon confirms WWE RPG is in development

During WWE's Q1 2022 Earnings Call, a new product was revealed throughout discussion of their gaming successes and continued expansion.

Stephanie McMahon had been highlighting the commercial and critical boom of WWE 2K22, even emphasizing the title has "over 5.6 million hours viewed on Twitch to date."

However, it was just after that where McMahon tipped their hat about an exciting upcoming product in the form of a WWE RPG.

"We continue to see strength in the performance of our mobile games with 2K and Scopely, SuperCard and Champions and recently signed a new deal in the role-playing game space that will be announced soon," she said.

In the very next line, Stephanie McMahon shifted the discussion to the Metaverse before emphasizing that WWE's plan is to reach the "next-gen audience," though it sounded more like she meant the next generation of fans and not the "next-gen" of video game consoles.

What kind of role-playing game will WWE make?

The simple reveal and lack of clarity is leaving fans with far more questions than answers, but there are a few big paths they could take when their own gaming history is considered.

The most straight-forward and likely path for a WWE RPG, and one it seems many fans interpreted it to mean, would be something similar to an in-depth career mode like MyRISE in WWE 2K22.

This could take inspiration from past SmackDown games or the Day of Reckoning franchise, but it seems unlikely they'd try to create a different simulation engine for a product like this after the difficulty they had in finally nailing that for WWE 2K22.

Tabletop Role-Playing Game

The wording of "role-playing game space" does lend itself more towards a very different avenue, and this wouldn't be the first time they looked to tabletop gaming for a WWE RPG.

WWE Know Your Role, a tabletop role-playing game published by Comic Images in early 2005, adapted the d20 system to a traditional pen and paper RPG.

WWE RPG
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KNOW YOUR ROLE: This tabletop RPG was released more than a decade ago

Unfortunately, the product saw very little advertisement or success, and the only known surviving copies are on Amazon and eBay for more than $100.

Despite the commercial failure of that WWE RPG, some reviews in later years praised the system that was created from a mechanical standpoint.

It would be a bold move to try that again, but might work out considering wrestling's continued push into pop culture and convention culture over the last several years.

WWE RPG on Mobile

The mentions of SuperCard and Champions in the same sentence has some expecting that this could be a mobile title, and that's a definite possibility considering the wins they've seen in that area of gaming.

Stephanie McMahon specifically highlights 2K, which develops WWE SuperCard, and Scopely, which develops WWE Champions, but with two developers dropped in that same sentence it doesn't sound like either of them are the ones working on this supposed WWE role-playing game.

Strategic or Turn-Based RPG

Finally, they could go with a more traditional turn-based retro RPG, which is actually already in development by Mega Cat Studios with WrestleQuest, though it's not an officially licensed WWE product.

The biggest sign of this possibility may be the success of MyGM in WWE 2K22, as fans have shown an appetite for a strategic product that's less concerned with fast-paced action.

Stephanie McMahon did stress that the announcement for this upcoming WWE RPG would arrive "soon," but that could be any time in the next several months.

Depending on where development is at on the product, they could aim to take the timing previously used for the WWE 2K series and go for a launch in October 2022.

For more articles like this, take a look at our WWE 2K page.