2K Sports has hustle, but no loyalty or respect: WWE 2K23 servers shut down Sept.30
By Brian Allen
WWE 2K23 will shut its servers down Sept. 30, according to TrueAchievements. WWE 2K23 launched March 14, 2023, so players get just over a year of online functionality for a $70 game. Sadly, that's about the amount of time WWE 2K22 received for its servers, so this appears to be 2K Sports' greedy new normal.
I also reported on NBA 2K24's shockingly short stint as a PlayStation Plus title. I get that PlayStation Plus is a membership that distributes lots of games for a single price, making NBA 2K24's few months on the platform a free-ish rental. That still felt like a short time to me, and a cursory glance at social media indicates that opinion isn't exactly a hot take.
Free is free, however. Losing more than half a game's features a year after you paid full price for it feels like theft. Make no mistake, WWE 2K's multiplayer features are outstripping its single-player features more every year. This is the case with just about every sports game at this stage. WWE 2K has even added an Ultimate Team mode for some reason, making its games even more dependent on online multiplayer.
When reading the room on exactly how much is too much, it's always a good idea to look at industry competitors. EA Sports just turned off the servers for Madden NFL 20, a five-year old game, in April. As I've said before, if you're making EA Sports look like the fair and equitable party, you are doing something wrong. This establishes a baseline for us. 2K Sports' biggest competitor has established five years as the industry standard for server maintenance.
Take-Two Interactive took in nearly $5 billion last fiscal year, according to the New York Times. They could afford at least another year of online functionality. If companies are going to double the amount it costs to enjoy a game through season passes, card-collecting modes, and other pocket-emptying means, they should at least allow a decent amount of time with all the digital claptrap. Otherwise, players end up spending more time earning in-game items than enjoying them. At that point, a game is less a game and more of a Pavlovian trigger response, in which any enjoyment gotten is an accidental by-product more than an intentional result.
The irony is that 2K has been on the right track with this game in recent years. They should be encouraging fans to appreciate every nook and cranny, especially with the competition, AEW Fight Forever, floundering so badly. Learn how to take a proper victory lap, 2K.