Next week, WWE 2K24 will launch a new downloadable content pack for its gamers. It’s a unique DLC pack because the people in it aren’t all wrestlers. Instead, it includes many of the personalities from The Pat McAfee Show .
McAfee and his team of co-hosts were included in the game this year as additional downloadable content. While that decision was made months ago, the topic resurfaced again on an episode of The Pat McAfee Show .
During Tuesday afternoon’s show, the exuberant host boasted over his team’s inclusion in the game while also noting that the news didn’t receive universal appreciation.
“July 31st, one week from tomorrow, you guys officially gonna be a DLC pack alongside me and A.J. Hawk in WWE 2K ,” McAfee said through applause. “They’re dropping our pack on July 31st, and there’s a usable football.”
McAfee then acknowledged the wrestling community’s excitement over the news. “I know that the wrestling community is pumped for this pack to drop in WWE 2K. It has been called the greatest DLC pack to ever drop in the history of WWE 2K. … People are saying it’s going to be the greatest of all time. … Boy, there’s are a lot of people saying this is the worst decision of all time.”
A glance at WWE 2K’s announcement of the DLC pack would showcase that abundant resentment.
While some in the sports world started to sour on McAfee’s schtick, especially when he signed his deal with ESPN, wrestling fans haven’t always been so discouraged. There was a time when wrestling-fan consensus was that McAfee’s addition to the broadcast booth injected much-needed life and vitality into mundane commentaries.
Since then, though there hasn’t been a sizable shift and McAfee’s adjusted back to doing weekly play-by-play. It was apparent when he’d make surprise appearances that the chemistry he built tapered off.
Co-host Ty Schmit tried his best to diagnose the issue.
“I wouldn’t really say I’m too embedded in the video game community either,” Schmit said. “We get the opportunity of a lifetime. I mean, let’s be honest, if you grow up playing video games, and you get to go in and get your face scanned and find out you’re gonna be in the video game? Anyone would do that.”
Schmit then acknowledged “losers” and “marks” in the internet wrestling community who weren’t happy. “I mean, even throwing you into it,” he said to Pat, acknowledging his contributions to the company. “They don’t love that you’re in it either.”
“I was in a main event steel cage match, thank you very much,” McAfee said.
“They want some of these other losers that no one’s ever heard of from NXT. ‘Well, why aren’t these guys in the game?’ Because no one wants to play with them. That’s why,” Schmit said. “Should I be upset at these people are pissed that we’re in the game? No. Absolutely not.”
Despite Schmit’s abrasiveness, the fan resentment comes from an understandable position. The game’s fans (who, by proxy) are predominantly wrestling fans. They want to be able to use the wrestlers who are active now. Fans and gamers also want to play as characters from the past, including former legends and wrestlers. That’s long been one of the video game’s main selling points. So, in some market sectors, what the game offers isn’t what fans want. There’s not really that much of a crossover between McAfee’s daily show and WWE, though fans have occasionally been asked to watch the show when The Rock and Roman Reigns have appeared. But there’s a group of wrestling fans who, for better or worse, care about one thing: Wrestling. Everything else is unnecessary.
So for some WWE 2K24 gamers, they either want to play with current stars and legends or not play at all. It may be small potatoes in the grand scheme, but there’s an argument to make that 2K hasn’t leaned on certain aspects, such as wrestling legends, especially for the women wrestlers, which at this point is hardly an insidious request.
On the other hand… it’s clear WWE and McAfee’s relationship hasn’t wavered over the years. On the strength of that, McAfee was clearly able to secure a deal for his rights and his friends’ rights to appear in the game. Given McAfee’s abundant appearances in any sports or wrestling space, 2K probably felt it was a no-brainer to lock him and his co-hosts in.
Schmit missed the mark in his reaction. Ignoring that McAfee is a broadcaster and part-time performer with WWE, commenting on fans in that way is a bit tacky. Even when The Rock did it, he was in character.
It’s rare today, but this feels like a situation where either party has the right to feel how they do. McAfee arrived as a breath of fresh air on commentary and parlayed his success to help his friends get an extra check and a cool opportunity. WWE 2K24 gamers griping over characters they’ll never use over active wrestlers or legends they’d prefer to play as should have been expected.
McAfee and his cohorts tend to have a chip on their shoulder when any kind of criticism is lobbed their way, but it just seems like they’re punching down at a certain point.
[ The Pat McAfee Show ]
The post ‘Pat McAfee Show’ team pushes back on WWE game criticism from ‘losers’ and ‘marks’ appeared first on Awful Announcing .
Most Popular
Comments / 0