Since its announcement early this week, WWE 2K Battlegrounds hasn't been receiving the warm reaction 2K evidently wanted from the more cartoony, arcade-style take on the WWE video game license. Not only were the game's stilted facial animations and art style cause for concern for most fans of 2K's yearly offerings, but it also seems many were more interested in knowing about the future of the WWE 2K franchise than what Battlegrounds would turn out to be.
A new rating for the game might begin to better detail why fans should stick around, however, with the listing describing some of the outlandishly wacky content that will feature in the game. Alongside that, it seems as though the posting confirms another major console that WWE 2K Battlegrounds will come to as well, with the title supposedly also hitting Google Stadia when it drops this fall.
As for the age certificate, the ESRB has rated WWE 2K Battlegrounds T for teen, which seems to indicate that it might not be as focused toward younger audiences as fans first thought. The reason for the more adult rating is where the post gets interesting, highlighting a number of hilarious and intriguing new ideas that seem to be present in the arcade brawler. "This is an arcade-style fighting game in which players engage in wrestling matches using custom characters and WWE Superstars," the post begins, continuing, "Characters punch, kick, and throw each other during matches." So far, so normal for any WWE video game.
However, the post soon begins to expose the wackier side of the upcoming release, citing that players can use "chairs, poles, alligators, exploding barrels, and falling cars." It goes on to then highlight that "Matches are depicted in a somewhat exaggerated cartoon style—highlighted by impact sounds, slow-motion effects, and occasional explosions. In one sequence, wrestlers climb and are shocked by an electrified cage while grabbing bags of cash." Evidently, this is going to be a much more exaggerated form of WWE game, which will no doubt be exciting for the section of WWE 2K fans who have been demanding the games embrace their wackier roots.
As for the news that the game will be coming to Stadia, it's exciting to hear that owners of the console will be able to experience the game on the experimental new console, especially as Google's streaming hardware still lacks a packed library at this point. With WWE 2K Battlegrounds shaping up to be a solid change of pace for WWE 2K fans while they wait for WWE 2K22, it's exciting to see the game will be heavily swerving into its more outlandish ideas.
WWE 2k Battlegrounds is coming this fall for Google Stadia, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.
Source: ESRB