No SmackDown for PS3

By Ellie Gibson Published 24 July, 2006

Well, not this year anyway.

THQ has confirmed to Eurogamer that the next instalment in the WWE SmackDown series will not be appearing on PlayStation 3.

A statement from the publisher reads: "The highly anticipated WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 is scheduled to ship for Xbox 360, PSP and PlayStation 2 in November.

"Consistent with our goal of delivering the highest quality content across all next-gen platforms, we have decided to postpone the debut of the SmackDown series on PlayStation 3 until the holiday 2007 timeframe."

In other words, they're by no means abandoning the PS3 altogether. SmackDown 2008 will indeed be available for Sony's next-gen console when the game hits shops next year.

Picture of Ellie.

About Ellie Gibson

Since joining Eurogamer in the mid 2000s, Ellie has written about subjects as diverse as the fall of Gizmondo, the rise of Hollyoaks actresses in Red Alert games and the noise a bear makes under NSFW circumstances.

Read more articles from Ellie by visiting the Ellie Gibson archive page.

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Comments (31) Latest comment 6 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • York #1 6 years ago

    Not good for PS3.

    /captain obvious to the rescue...

  • Blerk #2 6 years ago

    What a disaster. No, really.

  • AcidSnake #3 6 years ago

    Could be a third party waiting to see how PS3 will sell...
    Before rushing a port when it sells out on launch day...

  • gth #4 6 years ago

    is this bad?

  • Rictor001 #5 6 years ago

    i love these forums - in the space of 3 posts we go from someone who clearly has a brain in their head to a fan boy who thinks he knows how things work.

    if you had a multi-million selling game would you want to "port" the engine or actually spend time making a game work 100% on a brand new platform?

  • York #6 6 years ago

    Smackdown is a strong series, and I'm guessing fans will buy 2007 no matter what. So, when it's only on the shelf for XBox 360, yeah, that's a tough break for Sony.

  • nickthegun #7 6 years ago

    No incredibly annoying PSP to PS3 features? Im shocked and dissapointed that I will not be able to experience the dissapointment of lacking three or for wrestlers due to me being PS3 free.

    And since im here, if they dont sort out the loading times for the PSP, their QA dept need punching in the balls.

    /not a Wrestling nut
    //bought it because it was cheap
    ///PSP never left 'Standby' for the whole time I played the game, due to the arse clenchingly annoying cold boot time
    Edited by 1 at 24/07/06 @ 11:55

  • DDevil #8 6 years ago

    It definitely is a good selling and popular series, so while not a killer blow for the PS3 by any means, it does have to hurt.

    I just wonder about the quality of the game itself though. I like the Smackdown games, but if this is just a rehash with next gen graphics and no attempt to fix the flaws of the series then I will be very disappointed.

    They could at least put some ragdoll-style physics in there!

  • Xerx3s #9 6 years ago

    Well, no loss there then. I mean, who is interested in wrestling? :|

    EDIT:

    Oh, stupid question, nm that then. ;)
    Edited by 1 at 24/07/06 @ 12:06

  • York #10 6 years ago

    Improvement in gameplay? It's slowly been getting worse since the final "Smackdown" game.

  • Aretak #11 6 years ago

    To be honest, this is probably bad news for 360 owners if anything. What it says to me is that since there'll be no PS3 version, the PS2 will be the lead development platform, and the 360 will simply get a port of that with upgraded graphics and some extra bells and whistles. If they were developing for both the 360 and the PS3, we might have actually seen a true next-gen entry in the series, with the PS2 getting a downgraded port.

  • tobi #12 6 years ago

    thq are idiots.

  • Xerx3s #13 6 years ago

    ...

  • Steroyd #14 6 years ago

    No surprise it's been documented that PS3 takes time to learn not to mention balancing the workload over 6 cores instead of 3 etc.

    Not a real loss because it would have been a PS2 version with next gen sheen most likely.

  • The-Bodybuilder #15 6 years ago

    >"and the 360 will simply get a port of that with upgraded graphics and some extra bells and whistles. "

    I'm guessing you haven't seen the demo's of it for the 360? It DOES look next gen (whether it plays "NEXT GEN" [WHATEVER THAT MEANS] is another questions).

    However, when you have a 360 that's cheaper than a ps3 (and maybe even cheaper by christmas), with two of the ps2's best selling games (smackdown and pro evo 6), including other exclusives (gears of war, forza 2, e.t.c.) it's definately bad news for sony.

    We know why they can't release by this christmas for the ps3, but the majority of people (the sales) don't know that. All they'll see is a popular ps2 classic on the 360, with more shine.

  • Aretak #16 6 years ago

    "I'm guessing you haven't seen the demo's of it for the 360? It DOES look next gen (whether it plays "NEXT GEN" [WHATEVER THAT MEANS] is another questions)."

    Well, I meant more in the sense that they might actually take advantage of the extra power to sort the AI out, which has always been pretty rubbish in Smackdown games. I'm just worried that the 360 version will get shoddy treatment with no other next-gen version in the works. I'm sure everyone remembers THQ's pitiful Royal Rumble on the Dreamcast, which looked nice enough, but had almost no options and shite gameplay.

  • Zero Beat #17 6 years ago

    Didn't stop people buying Smackdown before did it. ;p

  • Xerx3s #18 6 years ago

    extra power to sort the AI out

    Real life wrestlers don't have any ai either so adding more would make it unrealistic. ;p

  • Aretak #19 6 years ago

    Great post. You'll be running this place in no time with dashingly witty remarks like that.

  • Canadian_Mike #20 6 years ago

    It's irrelevant for Sony really.

    The PS2 version is going to sell more copies than the 360, PSP and PS3 version would have combined.


    EDIT: grammar
    Edited by 2 at 24/07/06 @ 16:56

  • Zero Beat #21 6 years ago

    A bit like Tomb Raider Legend.

  • seregrail7 #22 6 years ago

    My Uncle works in the same building where they're making Smackdown for PS3 and he says it's not going too well and they may not make ANY PS3 games. Seriously.

  • alpha-0ne #23 6 years ago

    seems like the ps3 is hard to develop for afterall

    i dont see how this is irrelevant to sony no smackdown game has ever sold less than 2 million for each game, will people want to get a far inferior ps2 game....? this would of been a good game to persuede people got shell out for a ps3 not any more

    its not just this xmas either do people want to wait until xmas 2007 for their next gen wrestling..?

    there seems to be less and less reasons to get a ps3 until later in 2007 at present, very few games of any merit/interest before then

    after all the developer is canning the game this year, not just delaying it by a few months not a good sign
    Edited by 3 at 24/07/06 @ 19:15

  • Bates #24 6 years ago

    The 360 version is probably going to be exactly the same game as the PS2 version, just with better graphics you know. I have to agree that the PS2 version is more than likely to be the highest seller here.

  • alpha-0ne #25 6 years ago

    oh so games 'with better graphics' dont matter then? why is anyone buying a next ps3 or xbox360 then?

    quite funny really people were raving about the graphics just a few months ago now its, graphics dont matter

    well forget graphics, 66% of people are using xbox live thats one big community its abvious whihc version people will want for that alone now, as ps2 online sucks ass

  • Bates #26 6 years ago

    "oh so games 'with better graphics' dont matter then?"

    Correct.

  • effinwooly #27 6 years ago

    whats going on !!!!! FFS ! First no PES6 and now smackdown !!!! thats it i am NOT buying a PS3

  • Mordum #28 6 years ago

    @alpha-One
    "well forget graphics, 66% of people are using xbox live thats one big community its abvious whihc version people will want for that alone now, as ps2 online sucks ass"

    Good point. I think you're right in saying its not the graphics, but the online options that give the 360 version the advantage over the PS2 version (although obviously the better graphics will be a bonus).
    Edited by 1 at 24/07/06 @ 19:36

  • cyber_nicco #29 6 years ago

    Well, I've never played any of the wrestling games for any of the platforms, so this doesn't impact me very directly.

    However, it would seem to me that if so many PS2 owners are still buying games in record numbers after the release of the PS3, that does not seem to imply that most of them are already planning on making the switch to PS3. I mean, Xbox sales started to drop as the 360 launch grew near (and ever since), which I think that was an implication that there was a fairly high level of interest in the new console.

    I'm not saying it will or not sell well on the PS2, but I am not sure if it does it is necessarily such a great thing for Sony...

  • alpha-0ne #30 6 years ago

    yhe the chances are most people wont bother buying a ps3 until the price comes down to 299 or less, letd face it 70% of ps2 owners bought it for less than £200

  • Rictor001 #31 6 years ago

    @ seregrail7

    So does your uncle work for THQ or Yukes and are you saying that he says that a guy who actually works on Smackdown told him over a beer that THQ/Yukes (delete are required) is backing of of the next major gaming format because they are having "difficulties"?

    Just wondered if you could clear that up for us all!