Take-Two acquires WWE license
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
[UPDATE] Grand Theft Auto publisher picks up World Wrestling Entertainment license from bankrupt publisher THQ; deal finalized; Yuke's will remain developer.
[UPDATE] Take-Two Interactive today confirmed that 2K had entered into an exclusive, multi-year licensing agreement with WWE for games to be developed by Yuke's. WWE '14 is due out this fall for "consoles" and will be the first title in the new partnership. Financial terms of the agreement were not divulged.
The original story follows below
The rumors were right. Bloomberg reports today that Take-Two has agreed to acquire the World Wrestling Entertainment license for video games following THQ's bankruptcy last month.
According to the documents, Take-Two's acquisition of the license will save millions by minimizing impact on WWE and developer Yuke's.
"By working together to transition development of WWE games going forward, the parties have minimized the harm to WWE and Yuke's, which have, in turn, agreed to substantial reductions of their claims" against THQ, lawyers for Take-Two said in court papers.
Without the new agreement, the Take-Two lawyers said WWE and Yuke's claims "would certainly exceed $30 million and might exceed $60 million." Other THQ franchises, like Homefront, Company of Heroes, and Saints Row, were sold during an auction last month.
The new agreement will nullify the previous WWE and Yuke's contracts, allowing the companies to sign new deals with Take-Two. According to the documents, WWE agreed to waive $45 million in pre-bankruptcy claims, as well as royalty advances of around $7.5 million through 2017.
As part of the new deal, THQ will pay WWE $650,000 in royalty payments for games sold while under bankruptcy protection. In addition, THQ will give its 14 percent stake in Yuke's--about 1,552,000 shares worth $4.5 million--back to the developer, as well as a $250,000 royalty payment.
By
Eddie Makuch, News Editor
Eddie Makuch (Mack-ooh) is a News Editor at GameSpot. He works out of the company's Boston office in Somerville, Mass., and loves extra chunky peanut butter.
83 comments
I liked THQ, it is sad to see them go, but this news makes me relieved, I was afraid Yukes would no longer be the developer. I like the WWE games, and Yukes has done a great job I think. I am interested to see what else Yukes can do now.
so take two will make wwe games but yuke still devlops them. oh well at least u people want VC to make them.
1 Like i just wish they could remake the classic 'wrestlefest' circa 1991 with new and old characters. the longevity of this game compared to new wwe garbage doesn't come close to a simple game like this button smasher albeit short and exciting :D
guess im just getting old lol!
Yes! sad to say it took a travesty like this to hopefully get rid of those idiots (Yuke's) for once and for all!!! AKI for life!
Good news!
The wrestling games over the past decade (for the most part) have been quite lackluster.
Though I have to say WWE '13 is a good wrestling game. Much better than most of the games in the past several years. You can see they honestly tried to improve a lot of things in the game. (though it could still use more of course)
I hope Take Two does a good job with it. Cause WWE '13 is just when wrestling games were starting to become fun again.
Ha, I used to test the wrestling games for thq, and they were okay in my opinion.... But take two is great with sports titles, so I think this is fabulous news, and a great win for TTWO
Please...please... PLEASE! stop making the game annually! take a few years if you need! and then give us a real quality wrestling game! then ill start buying them again! THQ made the WWE games into a joke. Here's to you Take-Two!
@System4Ever A few years? What if their first try sucks.. I have to wait another few years? Every 18 months, sure, but not 24 to 36... Sends shivers down my spine, especially since there is no decent competition to look forward to. I was kinda hoping AllStars would've been an annual game, I really liked that one and had a lot of potential.
WOW!
This is amazing news.
The WWE franchise stopped evolving after WWE SD! vs. Raw, with Here Comes The Pain being the best in the Franchise.
Imagine a WWE title developed by 2K or Rockstar (more unlikely, though). That would be great ! as long as it isn't 2K Play.
2 Like I would be ever so happy to see a return to the gameplay and pure fun that was WWF No Mercy and Wrestlemania 2000 on the N64.
Sure you will and it will be as good as that other Take Two PC game, Red Dead Redemption....Wait a minute..
1 Like Please change this franchise. Also, I hope take two doesn't let yukes make it anymore.
According to the article, they are staying on as the publisher for now. But hopefully since the license is under Take Two now they may push for a higher quality game and at least we know there won't be an Online Pass.
thank god....wrestling games have become stagnate, much like the madden franchise. i think the era of awesome wwe games have arived.
This news provokes a mixed response really. On the one hand, WWE 13 was the best since SYM so it would be good to see them improve upon that rather than starting from scratch and taking another 5 years to get anything remotely decent out there, BUT, on the other hand, I was naively praying for the development to be handled by AKI/Syn Sophia so we could see a next gen version of their absolutely stunning engine from the N64 days.
Always said I would buy a good WWF game once they finally sort out the disgusting clipping and boring commentary that plagues this series every single year. Graphics get better and more fluid, but arms still go through opponents bodies and your created fighter never looks as good as the official characters. Hopefully with Take Two they can finally fix this broken franchise.
@Waynespread WWF are making games? What do you do protect endangered species from hunters and try to get pandas to reproduce?
Seriously? You going to be sarcastic about one letter? So they havnt been WWF since 2002 but so what? I'm sure everyone knew what I was talking about... WWF or WWE whatever, doesnt change the fact that the game has gone B grade and nothing more than an annual cash cow for lazy developers. Persoanlly I dont agree with annual release games. They add 5 new characters, tweak one or two details and expect you to pay another R600 for it? It's bullshit.
It's cool if you were joking, just wasnt sure if you were serious or not. I appologise for sounding aggro but there are a lot of fanboys who like to instigate an argument when you "attack" their beloved game or console. Now that you mention it a WWF game breeding pandas would definitely be something new at least. Keep well man.
Ive been playing wrestling games since the supernes days. And can honestly say WWE 13 is the best wrestling game ever. Im kinda sad its the end of THQ coz they have almost perfected wrestling. I just hope take two will do justice to wrestling.
1 Like Umm, THQ didn't make the game they only published it. Yukes was the developer and according to the article they are still going to be the developer with Take Two as the publisher.
Wow. What are they going to do next for the game? Have Hornswaggle dance around the ring with Natalya while Kali dances? *yawn*
3 Like @firehawk998 For real. Cena winning Royal Rumble was a buzzkill. Practically made me mostly stop watching it.
This comment has been deleted
To be Honest i haven't touch a wrestling game since PS2 days, ever since WWE went PG i just stop taking interest in wrestling
@DeViLzzz @Randy21021 Hm Yes i did love wrestling but not anymore it's too kiddish i'm a 90s Era Kid so yeah..
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