WWE Fans Left Unimpressed By 2K26's Attitude Era Reveal

It's unclear what exactly the plan is here beyond there being an, presmably more expensive, alternative edition of WWE 2K26 with cover art featuring Attitude Era stars, and I'm guessing those same versions of the Superstars will be included as playable characters in that version of the game. There may well be an Attitude Era showcase, although it was heavily rumored that this year's showcase will be CM Punk-themed.

Regardless of what exactly you get with the Attitude Era edition, WWE will have been expecting nothing but excitement and positive reactions to its reveal. That's not been the case. Those who have been playing WWE video games for a while noted that we've seen this one before. WWE '13 was Attitude Era-themed, and even though it's been a while, and 2K wasn't at the helm back then, quite a few of you are asking whether the ideas well has already run so dry that we need to go back to the late '90s yet again.

In Case Of Emergency, Break The Attitude Era Glass

Even though 2K has technically never utilized the Attitude Era in this way before, it kind of has. In WWE 2K16, fans were given the chance to play through some of the best parts of Stone Cold's career, which, let's be honest, is pretty much a celebration of the Attitude Era. This isn't the first time 2K has revisited a theme either, and that's the other thing that has fans worried.

2K's celebrated 30 years of WrestleMania in WWE 2K14, a showcase that's widely considered to be the best in the series to this day. It rolled it back and did something similar for WWE 2K24 for 40 years of WrestleMania, a showcase that ultimately missed the mark. With that in mind, the series revisiting the Attitude Era doesn't mean what it has planned will be good.

There is an element of unfairness to all of this, as we know almost nothing regarding what this means. It still seems like the showcase mode will be about Punk, and that the Attitude Era of it all is for a special edition of the game that will be optional. If you just want the standard edition, that will presumably be an option. That said, WWE parading the 2K26's Attitude Era out before it reveals anything else about the game is evidence that it thinks it can always flaunt that era if it needs praise, but 30 years later, it's not that simple anymore, and nostalgia for that boom period might finally be wearing thin.