It’s a known fact that work on video games starts long before they are announced, and for sports games, they can sometimes be worked on LONG before they’re ever revealed or mentioned of. Especially since most sports titles are annual, meaning they come out at a certain point every year. And for the WWE 2K series, this is no different. While wrestling games were once considered “low-tier”, they’re improved much in recent years. And now, it appears as though WWE 2K19 is already in the works.
This reveal comes from Santana Garrett, who is a well-known indie wrestler who has done work for Shine and various other promotions. In a tweet she made last week, she noted that today she would be in, “California to film for a video game”.
While not 100% confirmation, there are a few things to note here. One, Garrett has done motion capture for past WWE titles. Two, 2K Games has their motion capture studio in California, so that lines up with her statement. Three, and arguably most important, there aren’t that many other wrestling video games that aren’t WWE, and it’s unlikely that she’s shooting film for them.
Again, given that sports games like WWE’s 2K series is done annually, they’re likely looking to get a lot of work done ahead of time to ensure they can make an announcement as soon as possible. And, since there will no doubt be advances to the motion capture technology they use, and there are new wrestlers in the brand (including women’s wrestlers), it’s possible that Garrett is being used to reshoot moves or do new ones to line up with the current roster.
Many are hoping that WWE 2K19 is better than WWE 2K18. The game was a “step back” in the eyes of many despite the improved visuals and small refinements to the gameplay. Hopefully they’ve learned from this.
