At WrestleMania 37, WWE fans were treated to the surprise announcement of the WWE 2K22 video game. Very little was shown of WWE 2K22, but the brief teaser trailer did showcase some impressive graphics and animations in a match between Cesaro and Rey Mysterio. The graphical detail was impressive enough that many assumed the WWE 2K22 teaser trailer was indicative of how the game would look on next-generation consoles like the PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X, but a new rumor claims that the game won't even have a proper next-gen release.
This rumor stems from a Twttier post by ItzPHSavageWolf. They claim that they saw an advertisement for WWE 2K22 that only listed the game for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. They also pointed out that the WWE 2K22 teaser trailer that was posted on the PlayStation YouTube channel originally labeled the game for a PS5 release, only to backtrack and list the game for PlayStation 4 instead. 2K Sports has not commented on the situation at the time of this writing, and it also has yet to actually list out any platforms for WWE 2K22.
With the WWE 2K22 release date likely not until fall of this year, the lack of a proper next-gen version will likely upset some fans of the game. However, there are numerous reasons as to why this decision would be made. A big one could be the desire for the development team to win back favor after the disastrous launch of WWE 2K20, and splitting its time between current- and next-gen versions of the game could have made that a much more difficult feat to accomplish.
Another reason could be the general lack of PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X consoles that are in peoples' homes at the time of this writing. While both consoles have enjoyed tremendous sales success, it seems that a great portion of consoles have been swept up by scalpers, as evidenced by surprising low software sales for PS5 games. With PS5 and Xbox Series X shortages expected to continue for the foreseeable future, it makes sense that the developers would instead want to focus their efforts on making the PS4 and Xbox One versions of WWE 2K22 as high quality as possible.
Of course, it's always possible that 2K Sports is actually planning on releasing a next-gen version of WWE 2K22 as well, and this is just a misunderstanding. Fans should hang tight for official word from 2K Sports.
WWE 2K22 is launching later this year.