It appears Brock Lesnar will be in WWE 2K24. Yet he’s not on the official roster of wrestlers released this week by 2K.
How can both of these things be true? It’s because Lesnar will be included in the game, but not as a playable character — you’ll be able to interact with or go up against the Beast Incarnate, just not play as him.
Mike Straw of Insider Gaming was the first to confirm this unusual status quo for Lesnar, with his sources explaining that “while it was too late to fully remove Lesnar from the game, the plan shifted to simply make him unplayable for players upon release.”
Fightful Select (subscription required) followed up on Straw’s report, explaining that “we’re told that there are some characters that are included in MyRise and Showcase that are considered historically significant but will not be playable in the game outside of those modes.” Fightful also said it was WWE who requested that Lesnar not be playable.
If you’ve been following WWE news for the past few months, you likely already have an idea of why this is, but just in case … Lesnar was implicated in the Vince McMahon sex trafficking lawsuit filed by former WWE employee Janel Grant. While not named as a defendant, he is the former UFC champion discussed in the suit for whom McMahon allegedly asked Grant to “create personalized sexual content for a WWE superstar that he was trying to re-sign.”
Until the allegations in that suit are resolved one way or the other, WWE has chosen to minimize its association with Lesnar, which includes reportedly shelving plans to use him at Royal Rumble and beyond. In the case of WWE 2K24, he had already been removed from one of the upcoming game’s special edition covers, and the compromise of making him unplayable seems like a good solution with so much work put into the game and it now so close to release.
Speaking of which, WWE 2K24 is set to release on all major gaming platforms Friday, March 8, with two deluxe additions granting early access to gamers on Tuesday, March 5.
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