THQ not keen to renew WWE vows

By Robert Purchese Published 2 July, 2009

But Jakk's is. Fight. Legally.

Publisher THQ has filed suit against WWE SmackDown vs Raw developer Jakk's for renewing the wrestling licence without permission.

THQ claims the developer had "no authorisation" and that it is under "no obligation" to renew, according to a statement. Perhaps THQ doesn't want to make another WWE SmackDown vs. Raw game.

Or the publisher may be mirroring EA's decision to alternate Fight Night and MMA releases.

Whatever the reason, the success of UFC 2009: Undisputed is likely to play a role, as the brutal sport simulator enjoys fifth place this week in the UK All-Formats chart - weeks after its late-May launch.

And while we're on the topic of MMA: there's a rumour doing the rounds that UFC will blacklist any fighter signing for EA's new brawler, according to Joystiq.

What would Mike Tyson do?

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (11) Latest comment 3 years ago

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

  • harzo #1 3 years ago

    I really got bored of the WWE games, I am very interested in picking up UFC even though I don't even watch it on TV. Would it be better getting UFC or Fight Night? Any advice?

  • Triggerhappytel #2 3 years ago

    Yeah, I bet they do renew it, but it's probably not looking as appealing as it once did, following diminishing sales and growing interest in the UFC series. Just goes to show that real quality can be as important as a popular licence.

  • stevetuck #3 3 years ago

    the best wrestling game is still WCW/nWo Revenge \o/

  • jaxon58 #4 3 years ago

    UFC is great!

  • JahB #5 3 years ago

    Yeah, I bet they do renew it, but it's probably not looking as appealing as it once did,

    why would they? UFC is selling much better than smackdown ever did, WWE asks for outrageous licensing fees and it's a dying dinosaur of a spectacle that the world hopefully won't have to endure much longer

  • curtlikesmeat #6 3 years ago

    Yep, to be fair WWE is on another downward slope at the moment - it seems to come and go in waves. It started being crap again the moment The Rock left. Ahh the glory days of 98-02...

  • Linkified #7 3 years ago

    All they have to do is create a good wwe game it is not that hard. Use the way they developed models for UFC and use the techniques there. Get away from the ultimate controls but use the controls from WWE Wrestlemania Legends game.

  • rhubarbandcustard #8 3 years ago

    "According to IT News Online, the official website of World Wrestling Entertainment, WWE.com, lost nearly a third of its audience within one year's time. WWE website traffic dropped 31 percent from May 2008 to May 2009. The story notes that WWE.com was visited by 2,574,245 unique visitors in May 2008, but dropped to 1,784,088 unique visitors in May 2009. It's also interesting to note that WWE and NASCAR were the only major sports sites that dropped among the top-10 finishers. "

    WWE is going, going....gone?

  • kobashi #9 3 years ago

    UFC must be talking about blacklisting the fighters under UFC contract who never signed away there lifetime rights. These guys were right to do so and Dana White is acting like an idiot as usual.

    If they are seriously talking about blacklisting fighters that are not even in the UFC then Dana White has once again shown the world how dumb he can really be.

  • WinterSnowblind #10 3 years ago

    In the WWE's defence.. I don't think interest has really died, only interest in the games. THQ have essentially been updating the roster and changing the box art each year, the past few games especially have added nothing of value to the series and actually removed a couple key modes (my interest in the series died with GM mode).

    If they'd actually put some effort into developing a new game, I imagine it would sell like they used to. Simply bringing back GM mode and updating the creation system would be enough to interest me really.

    It'd be so easy to make these games great, instead they settle for putting in as little effort as possible, and then moan about poor sales.
    Edited by 2 at 02/07/09 @ 13:38

  • Jay-ITFC #11 3 years ago

    I stopped watching WWE after Wrestlemania 25 so I'm one of them who hasn't watched or been on the website in months!