THQ Introducing Another New WWE Franchise, But It’s Not “Online”
When THQ unveiled WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2010 just under a year ago, they did so with a simple yet effective tagline: “It’s Your World Now.” This year, however, it appears that the in-development free-to-play WWE Smackdown vs. Raw Online won’t be a part of that world if you don’t live in Asia, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be plenty of action from the WWE Universe to partake in.
In addition to WWE Smackdown vs. Raw 2011, which now places a greater emphasis on the ways in which tables, ladders, and now-throwable chairs can be used, and WWE All-Stars, which is a more arcade-styled take with stars from the past and the present, there is a new franchise on the way.
Danny Bilson of THQ explained that the reason for no free-to-play Smackdown vs. Raw Online was because “we don’t want to confuse Smackdown Vs. Raw [the brand] with that online free-to-play game.
“That’s a big, expensive title, Smackdown Vs. Raw! – we will not do any cannibalisation of it at all. The online game is also designed uniquely for Asian playing habits and it would probably have to be modified creatively to bring it to the West.”
In its stead will be a new franchise, reveals Bilson, though he was unwilling to go into specifics. However, he did say it would skew away from the more sim-like style of the traditional Smackdown vs. Raw titles, and is “just as exciting as All Stars, but a little different.”
After finalizing an eight-year deal with WWE in 2009, THQ is clearly wasting no time in trying to grow the brand. Their goal: to have an “alternate SKU” available in stores every six months, with the non-Smackdown vs. Raw titles being “more friendly, easier and less simmy” than their long-running annual counterparts.
Source: CVG (via MTV Multiplayer)
