Summary

A new report says the teams working on WWE games were hit hardest by the latest company-wide layoffs at Visual Concepts.

According to that report, the cuts affected both the main WWE 2K team and the team behind WWE 2K25: Netflix Edition. The same report added that Netflix chose not to renew its agreement for Netflix Editions of WWE 2K26 or WWE 2K27 after WWE 2K25: Netflix Edition was released.

Visual Concepts has handled the WWE 2K license since 2019.

Quote from a source within Netflix

"Those in charge felt it didn't meet expectations. They expected it to be something it was never designed to be: a mobile game. After the release of WWE 2K25: Netflix Edition, Netflix opted not to renew its deal for Netflix Editions of WWE 2K26 or WWE 2K27. That left an entire team without projects moving forward."

The Netflix Edition fallout

The report framed the end of the Netflix Editions deal as a major part of why one team was left without a project. That is the clearest detail attached to the layoffs as of now, and it points to WWE 2K25: Netflix Edition not delivering what Netflix wanted from the partnership.

What this means for WWE 2K26

WWE 2K26 now appears set to move forward without the Netflix Edition branch that had been part of the recent strategy, and that could narrow the game's development focus back toward the core annual release. Just as importantly, reported cuts to the WWE 2K teams create obvious concern around staffing and continuity for one of WWE's most visible licensing projects.

Sources

As reported by Insider Gaming.