WWE 2K22 creative director Lynell Jinks and Art Producer Christina Diem Pham sat down with Brian Mazique of Operation Sports to discuss the newest features and gameplay options in WWE 2K22. We previously published an article where Jinks went into detail about changes to the creation suite, which you can see here.
The game will see the reintroduction of General Manager mode, something that has not been seen in a WWE game since 2008. Talking about the addition of this mode, it was confirmed GM Mode is essentially the equivalent of Franchise Mode in other sports games. The objective will be to take your organization/roster and have them experience success against against the competition. You can play against the CPU or another live player either locally or online from your friends list.
Just how does GM Mode differ from the already existing Universe Mode? Jinks gave the details by saying “It’s completely different. It’s a totally separate engine and UI. Universe is kinda God mode. It’s like ‘I’m in control of this. I can control my ratings, and change my attributes’ and you have full control of everything. In MyGM, there are limitations. Vince McMahon is running the show, well in our case it is Triple H, and you are a GM running underneath him. It’s like ‘I’m going to select them and run my show with someone who is basically judging whether I am doing a good job or not’. So once you take that approach now there is a game there. Go draft your superstars, here are your ratings, here is how much money you are generating.”
Continuing on, Jinks mentioned the introduction of something that is exclusive to GM Mode called ‘Spectate Mode’. He said “You can still play the matches, simulate, interfere, and even spectate using spectate mode. It is exclusive to MyGM where you have these predetermined cameras. Now you are like someone in a certain area in the arena cycling through different camera angles just watching and changing on the fly. To me, it’s a totally separate mode.”
Christina Diem Pham chimed in to discuss the addition of GM Mode and what she thinks makes it unique. She said “You have these different options of three types of the amount of weeks you want to choose. Either 15, 25, or 50 weeks overall and as you go through it the idea behind building this is that you definitely want to be able to build a very balanced team and we provide the option for players to auto build your roster or you can go through and draft superstars yourself. Also you’ll have different aspects after the match of how your match is broken down. Triple H will give you feedback and the community via social media will also give you feedback as to what match types work or what match types don’t work.”
Devoted players are already very familiar with Universe Mode, but something has been added to the mode this year that makes it different from other editions of the game. Jinks said, “We did add superstar mode to Universe. If you want to choose Charlotte Flair and just focus on Charlotte, not having any control over anyone else, and just play through a cool story as Charlotte, or you want to switch it up and be Becky or Bayley, that is now a thing.” This will essentially allow players to play their own career mode and mold the path that a superstar takes to become successful.
Lastly, MyRISE is included in the game, a rebranding of the MyCareer mode in past editions. Talking about how the mode will work, Jinks said “You basically walk into the PC and you get your shot. You figure out who you are, one of the first things we allow you to define is your background. What was your background, were you an MMA fighter than wants to dip into sports entertainment, are you a former athlete or movie star? Once you select that you go into your customizations and define the look of your character. That choice you made will dictate the types of conversations you are going to have because they remember what your background is.”
You can watch the entire interview below. If you use any of the quotes above, please credit Operation Sports with a h/t to John Clark at Wrestlezone for transcribing.
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