WWE 2K22 has come closer to fighting games. However, skill-based, competitive competition still doesn’t seem possible. What could wrestling look like as an eSport and is it even possible?
Fighting games like Street Fighter or Tekken rely heavily on the skill of the player. Success comes to those who have what it takes. “WWE 2K22 is not eSport ready as of now”, – the brute development, when will it become eSport, 2K? “
While publisher 2K Games has introduced mechanics suitable for fighting games, Gürnth says there are still game patterns and move sets of characters that favour their victory. Once caught in a special move, there is no escape.
Competitive eSports, however, must allow a level playing field for all participants. Success must be decided purely on the abilities of the eSports players. Any unequal treatment in the game is therefore often evened out, as the 90s mode in FIFA 22, for example, attempts to do in its approach.
Wrestling contradicts eSports
But this is not the only reason why there are concerns about entering the virtual ring at a competitive level. Wrestling already struggles with implementation problems from the ground up because of the alignment of the real sport.
It is feuds and entertainment that lead to the great entertainment aspect here. Viewers root for them because at big events like WrestleMania, the entwined storylines come to their climax.
Also, unlike in purely competitive combat sports, the matches are more like a choreography of two athletes, “who in the ring, like in a good dance, bring emotions and moves together on the floor.”
An apt comparison by Olaf Bleich, the podcast host of the successful wrestling podcast “Headlock”. WWE commentator Holger Böschen also agrees: “That’s this part that actually contradicts eSports, because it’s not the performance of one individual.” In this sport, he says, it’s not about success, but in the foreground about the entertainment that is created.
So how should something be divided into good or bad performance when the real-life example is also less about the individual victory?
90s mode, adopt storylines or just do it for a change?
Introducing a scoring system, as it exists in boxing, also seems difficult due to the interaction of the participants in the ring. While Gürnth would also consider a 90s mode for WWE 2K, Bleich sees the personality aspect at risk. Distinctive characteristics would be lost that way: “Then a Roman Reigns fights like standard wrestler 0815.”
A competitive balance could be created by a series of matches, which is why Böschen brings the MyFaction mode into play. A selection of limited wrestlers would compete in singles matches, tag teams and possibly a rumble. This creates “conditions that you might be able to compete against each other.”
Host Gürnth even thinks adapting the real-world approach to wrestling is possible: “If you focus on the players, not the characters [of the game], then you actually have the same stories you have in the real world.”
Due to the steadily decreasing popularity of wrestling, the duration of events and the lack of charisma of the possible wrestling eSportsmen, Böschen classifies this idea as “future music”.
First the technical side must be presupposed “if we seriously think about what could possibly happen eSport-wise.” The WWE commentator is referring here to the basis of WWE 2K22, which runs stably but still not free of bugs.
There doesn’t seem to be an easy solution for eSports entry for the time being. Therefore, Oliver Bleich is willing to overcome the hurdles for the sake of entertainment and just go for it. “You can play tournaments, but you have to live with the fact that there is an imbalance because it is not designed for the classic prize money-based competition.
