- il y a 2 semaines
Yo l'équipe ! Aujourd'hui on plonge dans l'une des histoires les plus folles du jeu vidéo de sport : pourquoi WWE 2K21 n'a jamais existé. Parce que la franchise annuelle la plus régulière du marché a tout simplement... disparu.
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SportTranscription
00:00According to critics, WWE is now offering shotcatch matches that are less and less appreciated by fans.
00:04However, the company seems to be generating more money than ever.
00:07Its evolution over the last 40 years has been dizzying.
00:10An ascent that catapulted the wrestling behemoth to nearly $2 billion
00:16revenues in 2025 alone.
00:17A veritable cash cow of American entertainment that has managed to find its way into the living rooms of millions of people
00:23over time
00:23and even become part of global pop culture.
00:26We grew up watching our favorite superstars parade in the rings.
00:29When you're a fan, it's a part of your life, and believe me, WWE understands that very well.
00:33Understood how to play on it.
00:34Of course, we have tons of derivative products offered to us in droves, but one of
00:38'between them takes on a very particular form.
00:40I'm talking about video games, of course.
00:41When you think about it, it's genius.
00:43If you've ever dreamed of becoming a wrestler, we'll let you create your own superstar, choose their physique, give them...
00:48captures, compose an entrance for him and have him fight his own battles.
00:51A huge way to keep you drawn a little further into the WWE ecosystem.
00:55Like, when you've finished watching a show and you have some free time, come play our
00:59game.
01:00And more seriously, we must acknowledge that the company was way ahead of its time in the
01:03medium.
01:04While the first wrestling games were created in the 80s, it was also during this period that
01:08WWE will begin exporting its superstars there and even creating its own games.
01:12The niche will prove successful, since over time, nearly sixty different titles will be
01:17put up for sale and which will bring in hundreds of millions of dollars.
01:20A lucrative business that the company doesn't hesitate to squeeze every last drop out of, since there is
01:24New releases every year for almost 40 years.
01:27That's completely absurd.
01:28In 2014, the promotion even began working with video game giant Take-Two under the Touquet banner.
01:34offering one title per year since, most recently, with WWE Touquet 26.
01:38But if we look closely, in 2021, one edition is missing.
01:42No game has been released, which is surprising considering that teams are working on it full-time.
01:46WWE Touquet.
01:47One of their main sources of income is precisely from offering these new editions each year for
01:52force players to buy back the title and bring in money.
01:54What's even stranger is that Touquet 21 should have existed.
01:58And when you dig a little deeper, you discover a story that no one seems to really know in detail.
02:02There's talk of internal betrayal within the studios, of disastrous games rushed out that have led to...
02:07Huge backlashes, and much more, you'll see.
02:10So today, I wanted to revisit this very special edition, which was abruptly canceled at
02:15due to a huge power struggle between several companies.
02:17We will trace the origins of this anomaly and understand the secret war that was waged behind the scenes.
02:22of a franchise that, on the surface, appears extremely solid.
02:28Our story begins in 1993 in Osaka, Japan.
02:32Yukinori Taniguchi, a passionate gamer, sets up his small video game studio, Yooks, with some of his friends.
02:38Yooks is simply Yukinori's nickname, given to him back when he was...
02:42his studies in the United States.
02:43So, back in Japan, after a few jobs in the video game industry, he launched his career at 24.
02:48in his own adventure with Yooks.
02:50$30,000 in initial capital to finance the project, and that's when they were contacted by
02:54Tommy, a company that publishes video games, among other things.
02:57Tommy owns the video game license for New Japan Pro Wrestling, the largest Japanese wrestling federation.
03:02and is currently looking for a studio to help it develop a new title for Sony's brand new console.
03:07the PlayStation.
03:08That's how Yooks ended up with this project in their hands, and they then released New
03:12Japan Pro Wrestling Toukan Retsuden.
03:14The huge difference is that it's in 3D, a first for a wrestling game at the time.
03:18As a side note, it's the brother of one of the developers, who was himself a wrestling fan.
03:22who had this very thought, thinking it would be amazing if there were a wrestling game
03:26could be in 3D.
03:27Yeah, if you can fight this realistically in a ring today, well, that's...
03:30base thanks to him and the concept he had that day.
03:33The idea was good, since Toukan Retsuden sold over 200,000 copies in Japan.
03:37On it were the real wrestlers from New Japan Pro Wrestling, playable in 3D, as you might have guessed.
03:42the foundations of what would later make the studio successful.
03:44Fun fact, but when the game is released in the West, the skins of the real wrestlers will be replaced by
03:49fictional characters to avoid licensing issues.
03:52In short, this project has received overwhelmingly positive critical feedback, and several more editions will be produced each year, which will allow
03:57It's up to Yuke to make a name for himself in the industry.
04:00These guys know how to play a wrestling game.
04:01On the other side of the ocean, in the United States, the company THQ held the licenses at the time.
04:06for the WWF games.
04:07At that time, they used different studios depending on the console, for example with the Japanese studio, yet another
04:13Haki Corporation was in charge of games on Nintendo 64.
04:17THQ was then looking for another studio to handle the PlayStation games, and as it happened, the president of Haki Corporation,
04:23who is in charge of Nintendo 64, will advise the president of THQ on the Yuke studio.
04:28This is how the two entities will meet during the E3 video game show, and
04:32THQ will take shares in the Japanese studio.
04:35It's funny because there will now be real competition between Haki Corporation on one side, which was
04:39The games on Nintendo, and Yuke on the other, who took care of the games on PlayStation.
04:43Internally, each team watches what the other is doing, and that creates pressure, especially when Yuke
04:47When they see Haki doing something in their game, they decide they should do it too, and
04:50beat them.
04:51That explains why, if you've already played these games, you get the impression that they're riddled with
04:55features, sometimes quite absurd.
04:57In fact, there was real competition, and a rather healthy kind of it.
04:59In 2000, Yuke released his first game for WWE on the PlayStation, WWF SmackDown.
05:04A smash hit, millions of copies sold, and an extremely positive response from players.
05:09The studio certainly won't rest on its laurels, as it will immediately follow up with two more games, which
05:14will be released in the following months, still during that same year 2000.
05:17In 2001, the first title on PS2 was released, Just Bring It, followed by Shut Your Mouth in 2002, and
05:23Here Come The Pain in 2003, still considered today as one of the best WWE games.
05:27The gameplay was fluid for its time, the roster was monstrous, mixing the Attitude Era and Roostless Aggression, the
05:33all with a seasonal mode that really delivered.
05:35Here Come The Pain will then be followed by the SmackDown vs Raw series, which will air in 2005, 2006, 2007,
05:422008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 7 editions in a row.
05:46Incidentally, a little anecdote: in 2005, Yuke bought 54% of the shares of New Japan Pro Wrestling, the
05:52the biggest wrestling federation in Japan, again, that tells you how much influence these guys have.
05:55at that time.
05:56We're no longer talking about the small studio that was looking for service contracts, but about a company that is now worth
06:00several tens of millions of dollars.
06:02In concrete terms, we are right in the middle of their golden age, and at this stage, Yuke clearly stands out as
06:06The go-to studio when it comes to making wrestling into a video game.
06:10I myself have a very particular childhood memory, SmackDown vs Raw 2008, its version on Nintendo DS, which
06:15is the very first wrestling game I ever played, at the time I was 6 years old.
06:18Everyone benefits: Yuke grows, THQ finances and distributes the game, while WWE
06:23Meanwhile, it receives royalties for the use of superstars.
06:26We've already been partners for 12 years, the teams know each other inside out, the rhythm is well-established, and the
06:31Games, as we have seen, can be played one after another every year without any problems.
06:34In 2011 and 2012, the franchise changed its name. SmackDown vs. Raw was over, as WWE abandoned the brain split.
06:40the rivalry between the wrestlers of Raw and SmackDown.
06:43At the end of 2012, a major problem arose: THQ went bankrupt.
06:46For Yuke, this is obviously a big problem, because it means that the WWE games license
06:50finds himself without a publisher.
06:52In addition, THQ owed them between 15 and 20 million dollars; it was THQ that financed the development of the
06:57games, their marketing, and above all, it was THQ who had been well-versed in this for all these years.
07:03In other words, it was this company that contacted Yuke to order games from them.
07:06Someone needs to take over the publisher, otherwise there's simply no one left to request the games.
07:10Although Yuke also develops his own titles in parallel, clearly, the WWE games represent the source of income.
07:16major for the studio.
07:17That's where Touquet Sport comes in.
07:19Touquet is the quintessential sports franchise, with well-known titles like the NBA Touquet series, c
07:25'He's really a heavyweight in the video game industry, especially in sports.
07:27It makes sense that they're interested in WWE products, and they're the ones who ultimately get the contract.
07:322013.
07:33For Yuke, at first, it was a relief.
07:35They keep their jobs and continue to develop WWE games, the machine can start up again as before.
07:40Except that Le Touquet isn't quite like THQ.
07:42THQ was a long-standing partner who was completely trusted.
07:45Overall, as long as the game was released on time and sales were good, they let Yuke manage things fairly little.
07:50near his case.
07:51Touquet, on the other hand, arrive with a completely different mindset.
07:53They have a vision, their identity, and most importantly, they have their own in-house studio, Visual Concept, based in California.
08:00Remember this name, because this studio will play a crucial role.
08:03Touquet imposes Visual Concept as co-developer on the new WWE games, alongside Yuke.
08:08The goal is to modernize the franchise together and bring a level of quality like NBA Touquet.
08:13The division of roles is quite simple.
08:15Yuke retains the game engine, design, and art direction.
08:18Visual Concept, for their part, take over the animations, audio and scripts.
08:22On paper, it could work.
08:24Together, they will give birth to their first joint title, WWE Touquet 14, which is released in 2013.
08:29Although the game is decent and the transition is going smoothly, player feedback
08:34remain fairly traditional.
08:35You know the drill, we can follow that up with Touquet 15, Touquet 16, which is a game I have
08:40It was played a lot back then, by the way.
08:42Touquet 17, Touquet 18 and Touquet 19.
08:455 more games in 5 years, the pace and the formula remain the same.
08:48Behind the scenes, however, things are moving a bit.
08:50You have to put yourself in Yuke's shoes for 2 seconds.
08:52You are a Japanese studio that has been working on wrestling games since 1995, and you practically invented it.
08:57the genre.
08:58One day, an American studio you've never seen before shows up on your project to tell you how to...
09:03things should be done.
09:04Naturally, it's not exactly thrilling.
09:06Touquet wanted WWE games to look more and more like NBA Touquet games.
09:10Photorealistic graphics, online game modes, microtransactions, in short, the Touquet recipe.
09:15The problem was that Yuke had its own way of doing things, its own game engine that they had
09:19built from scratch
09:20Brick by brick for 20 years.
09:22When Visual Concept proposed changes, Yuke resisted.
09:25Conversely, when Yuke wanted to do things his way, Touquet pushed in the other direction.
09:29Year after year, tensions rise.
09:31From the outside, nobody sees too many problems; the games are released, sales are there, and everything is fine.
09:35'normal air'.
09:36The first real warning sign was WWE Touquet XV, which came out in 2014.
09:40This is the first game in the franchise on the new generation of consoles PS4 and Xbox One.
09:45Touquet wants to make it a showcase, something that demonstrates what the series can become with more advanced hardware.
09:49powerful.
09:58This choice prompted Yuke to integrate features inspired by NBA Touquet, and even to redesign the catcher models.
10:04from scratch to modernize everything.
10:06The result is a game that is extremely divisive.
10:09Are the graphics better? Yeah.
10:10The models are more realistic, but the rest of the game has regressed.
10:13The roster is smaller, many game modes are missing, and the gameplay is slower.
10:17The players generally feel that things they've had for years have been taken away from them.
10:22to offer them instead a game that appears more fun, but is actually quite weak at its core.
10:27It was a huge disappointment, and even today it remains one of the lowest-rated titles in the franchise.
10:31Trying to push Yuke out of his comfort zone did not pay off as intended.
10:35This friction between Visual Studio and Yuke is not going to resolve itself over time.
10:38and will even become a reality that both studios will have to learn to live with.
10:42Every year, it's the same pattern: ideas on one side facing resistance from
10:46the other,
10:46and a game that comes out as a kind of compromise between two visions.
10:50Touquet 16, Touquet 17, Touquet 18, the critics' notes are stagnating.
10:54It's increasingly clear that it's a copy-paste job from one edition to the next.
10:57Sales are holding up, but player enthusiasm is waning.
11:00Yuke also loses enthusiasm over the years.
11:02In May 2019, its vice-president Hiromi Furuta will give an interview,
11:06by confiding that the studio's developers are beginning to lose sight of their passion,
11:10that there is a growing feeling that their role is simply to complete the tasks that
11:14'they are assigned,
11:14a bit like robots losing creative freedom.
11:17The infernal pace of annual outings always imposed by Le Touquet,
11:20with games that are becoming increasingly complex to develop,
11:22leaves little room for innovation,
11:24So every year it's the same recipe, the same engine, the same constraints.
11:27That's something the players feel too, by the way.
11:29You've probably already heard the criticism when the trailers were released,
11:32Many people are complaining that it's practically the same game as last year.
11:35Well, as a result, the developers themselves think the same thing.
11:37We'll still have some pleasant surprises, though.
11:39as with WWE Touquet 19 which will raise the bar a little.
11:42A well-designed match system, a more advanced superstar creation and entry creation mode,
11:47and much smoother gameplay, which is the key to success in these games.
11:50But while we celebrate the success of Touquet 19,
11:53In the shadows, Yooks has already made a decision that no one saw coming.
11:56and which will create the biggest crisis in the history of wrestling games.
12:01Hiromi Furuta, the vice president of Yooks,
12:03will announce that the studio has assembled a second team internally.
12:06tasked with developing a brand new wrestling game.
12:09A game that has nothing to do with WWE,
12:11Therefore, a competing game with its own license.
12:14its own engine and its own ambitions.
12:16I remind you that at that time,
12:17They've been working almost exclusively on WWE games for 20 years.
12:21And then, all of a sudden, they publicly announce the arrival of a rival in the sector.
12:24Officially, according to the vice president,
12:26Yooks needs internal competition to remotivate his troops.
12:29According to her, not having a competitor is not healthy.
12:32That makes sense,
12:33At the time, remember, they were in rivalry with Haki Corporation,
12:36This was what had allowed for the production of such comprehensive games.
12:39and more broadly in the world of wrestling,
12:41when WWE is considered to be at its prime,
12:43This was during its competition with WCW.
12:46Vice-President Assom, I quote,
12:48"The players are expecting something new,"
12:49The assets used with Le Touquet are old.
12:51and the studio feels like it's not able to do things the way it wants.
12:54It's still reassuring, though.
12:55by saying that Yooks will continue to work on WWE games,
12:58that these are projects dear to the studio,
13:00some of its creators having dedicated a part of their lives to it.
13:03She even adds, laughing, that anyway,
13:05WWE wouldn't let them stop doing these games.
13:08Well, the damage is done, the announcement is public.
13:10And obviously, Le Touquet isn't too happy about that.
13:12Rumors are starting to circulate,
13:14Yooks is reportedly working on a new game engine.
13:16inspired by some of the titles from its golden age,
13:19like Just Bring It,
13:20or even Here Come The Pain
13:21that famous legendary PS2 game we've already talked about,
13:24and whose return many people have been demanding for years.
13:26But here's the thing,
13:27three months later,
13:28in August 2019,
13:29The news breaks.
13:30Touquet officially announces
13:31that Yooks no longer works on WWE games.
13:34After 20 years of collaboration,
13:35dozens of games,
13:36hundreds of millions of copies sold,
13:38and a franchise built brick by brick.
13:40It's over.
13:40The statement from Le Touquet is icy.
13:42I quote,
13:43"As we continue to invest in the WWE Touquet franchise,
13:46We saw the Visual Concept team demonstrate passion,
13:49of incredible talent and commitment to the future of the series.
13:52We thank Yooks for their years of partnership,
13:54and are eager to see what the Visual Concept team will bring to the franchise in the future.
13:59Lionel Jinx,
14:00the creative director of Visual Concept,
14:02Therefore, those led by Touquet, which until now had been co-developed with Yooks,
14:05will be all the more direct in his speech.
14:07On the same day, he posted a video on his social media.
14:10where he speaks directly to the fans of the franchise to tell them, and I quote,
14:13"I know it's been a long time since we last spoke to you,
14:15But we worked extremely hard this year,
14:17harder than ever.
14:18Because, as some have guessed,
14:20We had to do without Yooks.
14:21And then he concluded with a phrase that would particularly stand out at the time,
14:25“But it’s our time to take our shot. »
14:29"It's our turn to try our luck."
14:31The tone is clear,
14:32This is not a polite goodbye between partners.
14:34Jinx himself will confirm this in an interview.
14:36that the separation was not mutual.
14:38It wasn't Yooks who left,
14:39It was Le Touquet who decided to remove them from the project.
14:41As for Yooks, there's been complete radio silence.
14:44No public comments or reactions.
14:46Meanwhile, Visual Concept finds himself alone
14:48at the helm of WWE Touquet for the first time,
14:50and is due to deliver WWE Touquet 20 in just a few months.
14:53Although they have access to the game engine built by Yooks,
14:56We're talking about 20 years of code, after all.
14:58patchwork, DIY,
14:59And so it's a real mess.
15:00Visual Concepts needs to release a functional game in record time.
15:04all this with the pressure of eyes fixed on them.
15:06The public is waiting to see everything they can offer as solo artists.
15:09This is how WWE Touquet 20 was released in October 2019
15:12on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.
15:15From the very first hours, it was total chaos.
15:17The players launch the game
15:18and discover with horror that wrestlers
15:20deform during the match
15:21with their limbs stretching in all directions.
15:23The ring ropes are moving erratically.
15:25The way her hair moves is atrocious.
15:27The referees are floating above the ground.
15:29and objects appear or disappear randomly.
15:31Most of the superstars featured in the game are failures.
15:34Just look at this image, it's almost insulting.
15:36that the game could have been released in this state,
15:38without even suspecting the backlash that was about to happen.
15:40The criticisms are scathing.
15:42and demonstrate that glitches appear
15:43in literally every match they played.
15:45The numerous bugs are so annoying
15:46that sometimes you have to restart the game.
15:48A horrible method of creation,
15:50visual bugs,
15:51crashes,
15:51an unplayable and laggy online mode,
15:53In short, the list is very, very long at launch.
15:55It's no surprise, then, to see reactions from fans.
15:57The hashtag FixWW2K20 will be trending globally on Twitter.
16:01and tons of videos have been flooding the internet since
16:03to show all the absurd bugs that are present in the game.
16:06It was so bad that Sony is actually going to offer
16:08refunds on the PlayStation Store
16:10for people who had purchased the game in digital format,
16:13Absolute shame.
16:14We're talking about a title sold for €50 in its basic edition.
16:17And as you will have understood,
16:18He's going to make a terrible mess of things.
16:19to the point that it is still considered today to be the worst in the franchise.
16:22Visual Studio wanted to offer a strong game for their solo debut.
16:25This is going to turn into a nightmare.
16:26And I imagine that Yooks, for their part, must have had a good laugh.
16:30As if all that wasn't enough already,
16:31The game will offer one last poisoned gift for the new year.
16:34since January 1, 2020 at midnight,
16:37WWE2K20 stops working.
16:39You heard right, the game is spewing.
16:41The players discover that he is simply incapable
16:43to manage the transition to the year 2020.
16:45You may have already heard of the year 2000,
16:48and this global fear that computers would not be able to make it from 1999 to 2000.
16:52The infamous Y2K bug that could have created a cataclysm.
16:55Well, even that, which ultimately never happened on a global scale,
16:59WWE2K20 has managed the absolutely impressive feat of completely messing it up.
17:03That's crazy.
17:04The only solution found by the players was to reset the console's clock to December 31, 2019.
17:09Just a reminder that the game is called 2K20, 2020.
17:12But it doesn't work in 2020.
17:14The irony here is so perfect that it almost seems like a joke at this point.
17:17A fix will be implemented urgently during the day, but the damage is done.
17:21The game has become a meme, a symbol of everything that is worst.
17:242K wanted to prove that it could do better without the Japanese studio.
17:26The result is a global public humiliation.
17:29And even worse, it will glorify the Yooks studio.
17:32The image for the public is clear: when Yooks isn't around, it's horrible.
17:36The only game the studio hasn't made in decades turned into a fiasco.
17:39The aura is just insane.
17:41WWE was even reportedly considering licensing its license to another publisher.
17:44Faced with this disaster, 2K will have no other choice but to make the worst decision for a publisher.
17:49In April 2020, the bombshell dropped: WWE 2K21 was cancelled.
17:53Since the first SmackDown on PS1 in 2000,
17:55There had been a WWE wrestling game every year at a minimum, without exception.
17:59Here, it will be the first time in 20 years that no outings will take place during the year.
18:03An admission of failure, because even during the transition to WWE 2K,
18:06And so, of all these changes, it wasn't necessary.
18:09I remind you that we are just going from 2K20 to 2K21, it's not supposed to be a crazy thing.
18:132K will say in its statement, and I quote
18:15“We have heard you and we know that you expect more from this franchise.
18:18We apply what we have learned to the next game, with a focus on quality and fun.
18:23As part of this commitment, we will extend the production time and will not release the game in
18:272020.
18:28Well, to fill the void, 2K will still work on a replacement game,
18:31WWE 2K Battlegrounds.
18:33A game developed by Saber Interactive, not Visual Concepts who were busy.
18:37and which contains wrestlers in a slightly more cartoonish style, with very simplified gameplay.
18:41This isn't necessarily what the fans were expecting.
18:43And yet you can still feel that it's a stopgap measure to keep the franchise alive.
18:46while Visual Concept was working on it behind the scenes.
18:48Indeed, 2K has recruited Patrick Gilmore as its new executive producer.
18:52We're talking about a guy who worked on Medal of Honor, for example.
18:55He therefore has a small degree of legitimacy within the industry.
18:57And his mission is clear: to rebuild the franchise from scratch after the humiliation of 2K20.
19:01Visual Concept is going to take its time.
19:03No 2K21 is planned for 2020.
19:05and even the following year, in 2021, no titles will be released.
19:09The studio really wants to start everything from scratch.
19:11New engine, new gameplay, and a new approach.
19:14They have to prove they can do it; this is their last chance.
19:16But then, while Visual Concepts was rebuilding the WWE franchise,
19:20On the other side of the Pacific, the Yuke's studio did not remain idle.
19:23Do you remember the secret project that Yuke's announced in 2019?
19:27that famous rival wrestling game that had sparked the controversy with 2K.
19:30Well, in November 2020, we finally learned what it was all about.
19:33Yuke's announces that it is developing a game for All Elite Wrestling.
19:35WWE's direct competition.
19:37The studio that built the WWE games for 20 years,
19:41who created the SmackDown and Here Come The Pain games,
19:43The entire SmackDown vs Raw series,
19:45which literally defined what a modern wrestling game is.
19:48That studio will now make a game for the competition.
19:50And they're not going there empty-handed.
19:52Yuke's recruits Hideyuki Iwashita, nicknamed Geta,
19:55No, nothing to do with him.
19:56who was none other than the director of WWF No Mercy at the time on Nintendo 64.
20:01No Mercy is the wrestling game that everyone considers the best of all time.
20:05The Holy Grail of the genre. The guy who worked on it joined Yuke's to work on the AEW game.
20:11At the time, he was working at Haki Corporation.
20:13since he was in charge of WWE games on Nintendo.
20:15But I remind you that this was Yuke's competition.
20:18So here we have a kind of alliance of forces,
20:19clearly come to wage war on Le Touquet.
20:21In America, Visual Concept was already struggling to pick up the pieces after the Touquet 20 fiasco.
20:26Now they no longer have the right to make mistakes.
20:27They are fighting to maintain their position as number 1 in the sector.
20:29Kenny Omega, the wrestling legend, executive vice president of AEW, and video game player,
20:35is personally involved in Yuke's project.
20:37He participates in testing sessions and gives feedback to the developers.
20:40and it was even he who allegedly pushed to recruit Iwashita.
20:42A game for wrestling fans, developed by wrestling fans and featuring wrestlers.
20:46This title is called AEW Fight Forever and it will be released in June 2023.
20:51Expectations are enormous.
20:52Everyone is waiting for the spiritual successor to No Mercy,
20:55Everyone is waiting to see if Yuke's will reclaim the throne and prove that Touquet made the worst
20:59mistake in removing them.
21:00Here we are in June 2023, the game is released, and well, it's not great.
21:04The gameplay is fun, there's no denying it.
21:06It does indeed resemble a modernized No Mercy.
21:08But apart from that, well, the game is lacking in content.
21:11The roster is very limited, and the creation mode is practically non-existent.
21:14The graphics are below Touquet's standards and the content runs out quite quickly.
21:18The wrestlers' entrances are cut off; we go straight into the ring.
21:21The artificial intelligence isn't great, and the online mode doesn't offer crossplay.
21:25to allow friends to play from different consoles.
21:28The reviews are very mixed; it's not a total disaster like Touquet 20.
21:32But it's far, very far from the expectations we might have had.
21:34A game that also suffers from an image of being pretentious,
21:37wanting to take the crown of a titan, which immediately makes the people who test him much more
21:40demanding.
21:41Yuke's, freed from Le Touquet, freed from all the constraints he had complained about for years,
21:45with a sharp director on the team and Kenny Omega as a consultant,
21:48who witnessed the failure of WWE Touquet 20 to prepare for the arrival of his title as Grand Prince,
21:53is a failure.
21:54The narrative of Yuke's always succeeding collapses at the same time.
21:57Yuke's, without Touquet, did not play well.
21:59Given that Visual Concepts made a disaster of it once Yuke's was no longer there,
22:02It seems that sometimes, the best enemies make the best alliances.
22:05Speaking of Visual Concepts, while Yuke's was disappointing with its AEW game,
22:10Well, they kept working to catch up with their own oven.
22:13On March 11, 2022, after two years without a release, the studio finally published WWE Touquet 22.
22:19which this time is indeed coming out in 2022, and not the year before as is the case in
22:23the previous installments.
22:24A simple slogan,
22:25It makes a difference.
22:26It's different.
22:27A message directly addressed to the players to acknowledge the mistake made by Touquet 20,
22:31accept that they messed up, but that it won't be the same here.
22:33And frankly, in this case, it's true.
22:35The gameplay is much better, smoother, with a daring combat system.
22:39which leans a little more towards the arcade than what we were used to seeing.
22:41The models of the wrestlers are much more realistic.
22:44And overall, the game runs without crashing, in addition to benefiting from the excitement surrounding its big return.
22:49The showcase mode returns, focusing on the career of Ray Mysterio.
22:51And this is probably the best version of this mode at the time of its release.
22:54with its real archive footage.
22:56MyGM mode makes its grand return; you are a general manager.
22:59You're essentially running your own WWE.
23:02as well as the MyRise mode, the story mode basically on two separate careers.
23:06The reviews are much more positive for WWE Touquet 19.
23:09but this time without yukes, and after the Touquet 20 debacle.
23:12It was far from a done deal, officially marking the end of the nightmare for the franchise.
23:16And they're not going to stop there.
23:18WWE Touquet 23 was released the following year.
23:20with a showcase focused on John Cena and a Wargames mode.
23:23This title is now considered the best Touquet, which is quite incredible.
23:27Touquet 24 follows up with an anniversary mode for the 40th anniversary of Wrestlemania.
23:31Still very, very solid, the feedback from the community is still very good.
23:34And that confirms the power of the studio.
23:35Touquet 25 will take its turn in 2025 with Roman Reigns on the cover.
23:39and a new Highland mode which shows a little of the ambitions that the license can aspire to.
23:43Overall, it's very good.
23:45And finally, just recently, Touquet 26 has just been released.
23:47We still need to wait a little longer to form a definitive opinion.
23:50But the title holds up.
23:51That's it, Le Touquet now has the recipe, its own engine, its own habits.
23:55and Visual Studio has proven that it can do just as well.
23:58even better than Yuke on his own historical ground
24:00by offering wrestling games, now ranked among the best.
24:03There are still a few fun things worth mentioning,
24:05because the developers at Visual Concepts have never forgotten their 2020 fiasco.
24:09Rather than pretending it never existed,
24:11They decided to laugh about it publicly.
24:13In WWE Touquet 23,
24:15there is a sequence in career mode
24:16where your character participates in a motion capture session for a Touquet game.
24:20If you deliberately play badly during the sequence,
24:22The developers present in the scene are mocking you.
24:25by comparing your performance to that of WWE Touquet 20.
24:28There is also another, even more subtle easter egg in WWE Touquet 25,
24:32because if you explore island mode,
24:34There is an area with parked cars.
24:36and on one of them,
24:37You can see a license plate with the following written on it:
24:40WWE Touquet 21.
24:41The game that never existed,
24:43the one we've been talking about throughout this video,
24:45has finally found a small place somewhere in the franchise.
24:48It's both a nod to fans who know the story,
24:50an admission that this gap in the chronology did not go unnoticed.
24:53and a sort of tombstone, finally, for Touquet 21.
24:56Okay, if we take a step back and look at this whole war in a bit of perspective,
24:58What are the key takeaways?
24:59A Japanese studio, Yooks,
25:01who built a franchise over 20 years,
25:02who felt suffocated and wanted to regain his freedom, but failed.
25:06An American publisher, Touquet,
25:07who wanted to impose his vision,
25:09and ultimately delivering the worst wrestling game in history in a rush,
25:12before trying to salvage what's left.
25:13When Visual Concept believed they could do better right away without Yooks,
25:17They released the worst wrestling game in history.
25:19And when Yooks thought he could do better without Touquet,
25:21They released an AEW game that disappointed everyone.
25:23Both sides suddenly felt emboldened,
25:26and both of them failed miserably in both cases.
25:28Even the best enemies may or may not team up.
25:30But when Lego takes over, it comes at a high price.
25:32We often hear about great rivalries in wrestling,
25:34Austin vs Rock,
25:35WWE vs WCW
25:37It's as if here too, in this sector,
25:39A duo was needed, a competition to match the fans.
25:42Today, the WWE Touquet franchise is back in full force.
25:45Visual Concept has found its rhythm.
25:47and his games are solid.
25:48Yooks, for his part, has moved on to other projects.
25:50Far from WWE for the time being, admittedly.
25:52but always true to its origins.
25:54Then the ties are never truly broken.
25:56somewhere in every line of code of a WWE Touquet game,
25:59The spirit of Yooks hovers over us, and we must not forget him.
26:02Lines of code written 40 years ago by passionate Japanese developers,
26:05who had no idea how far this adventure would lead.
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