providing those rivalry setups for you, or you had to manually go in there and do the tweaks yourself, by setting certain superstars with certain allies and certain enemies, or you had to book the matches constantly for each individual show, which was a little too tedious or monotonous. Masoud: Rivalries have always been incorporated under-the-hood as part of Universe Mode: what was the reasoning behind making it a distinct component that could be tweaked and controlled?Ĭory: Adding more control to the Universe Mode is what our fans obviously want, as much as they can get (and rightfully so). It’s only going to get stronger and grow more and more in future iterations, and you’ll start to see a lot of the same qualities you see in the NBA games in future WWE games. And they’re making their impact right away, and we’re having that support right away with WWE 2K 14. Really that’s been the most noticeable thing. We didn’t know what we’d get with that, but they have a lot of fans over there and they really love the brand, support it, and want to see a lot of the authenticity stuff that we want to see as fans creating in the game. Obviously NBA is a fantastic game and really, really high quality, so that’s one of the big things we noticed.Īlso have a really strong passion for the brand and WWE. That means more time, spending more money, whatever it is–more resources to get the job done–that’s what they’re known for, and you can see it in their sports games. We loved to hear that as our team moved over and joined on, since we hold a lot of the same qualities in high regard, and so we know that support is going to be there when it comes to pushing for higher quality. That’s what they care about the most, so they kind of breed that into their culture and you can kind of tell that takes precedence over anything else. The first thing we noticed when we joined the team was that the culture of 2K is one of high quality and authenticity. Masoud: What are the benefits of working with the 2K brand? It seems like the one thing on everyone’s mind is if anything has changed with the teams melding together under one banner?Ĭory: It’s been a great experience working with 2K and being part of that family. Cory Ledesma, a developer who has been with the franchise for most of the series, agreed to sit down with me and tackle some persistent questions fans have had about WWE 2K14 and future installments. With WWE 2K14 just a few short weeks away, there’s still some questions fans need answered, questions they often ask about the state of the WWE franchise and its future. Interview: Building A Better WWE Universe: Cory Ledesma Responds To Most Asked WWE Questions