After sales of THQ's UFC Undisputed franchise fell by 200,000 units year-over-year, the company stated last week that it was thinking about extending the series' development cycle from one year to 15, 18, or even 21 months. Wondering if the publisher was considering the same approach for its wrestling franchise, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw -- which has seen at least one release every year since it debuted on the PlayStation in 2000 as WWF SmackDown! -- I mentioned the new UFC Undisputed plan to SvR's creative director, Cory Ledesma, in a Q&A session at a preview event for SvR 2011 this weekend in Los Angeles.
But Ledesma quickly dismissed the idea, citing THQ's wrestling pedigree: "We've been doing this for 12 years now [ed. note: 1999's WWF WrestleMania 2000 was THQ's first WWF/WWE game], so I think we have a pretty good track record of delivering quality each year." Indeed, the SvR franchise has racked up more than 50 million sales worldwide in its ten years of existence, so the numbers would seem to indicate that WWE fans haven't yet tired of the annual cycle.
Ledesma pointed out that the same plan isn't necessarily applicable across the UFC Undisputed and SvR franchises, which are at very different stages:
UFC is a new franchise; it's still fresh; it's got some adjustments to make in order to address some of the fans' requests and to really hit [the developers'] stride as far as the franchise [goes]. I think that strategy makes sense for them.
He did leave open the possibility of discussing an extended development cycle for SvR -- if the series ever suffers because of its yearly release schedule. "If it comes to the point that quality ever drops substantially, then of course I think any game developer would look at that strategy. [...] But it's something that we haven't explored on WWE, and we like to consider our strategy to be the best approach to delivering good content in a timely manner."
I don't think he's wrong when it comes to WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2011, the twelfth entry in the franchise, which looks innovative and impressive so far. Check back this afternoon for my full preview.
Contest:
10:00 AM on 08.18.2010 | 
who's the red-headed albino?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheamus
Anyways, big mistake, THQ. This franchise has been on the decline and needs new technology badly. The animations are so dated.
Anyword on the Nexus? I dont mind them being DLC. From what Ive heard and read and seen this is shaping up to be quite good and actually worth an upgrade.
Smackdown vs. Raw has broken controls that they 'tweak' every year (by 'tweak' I mean 'change for no reason and make the game even more unplayable') and they obviously haven't changed the animations since 2005.
Fuck this series.
Why not split the difference? Release Madden/UFC/Smackdown one year as a disc, then the next iteration of the series as DLC that changes the title and adds a few achievements/trophies? Allows for Roster/Faction/Whatever changes and gives the developers more time.
A one-year development cycle essentially guarantees that the developers don't have the time to plan, produce, and properly playtest new ideas. So we either don't get to try anything new at all or we get something that's buggy as hell and doesn't play quite as seamlessly as the rest.
Back in the days of the PS2/Xbox/Gamecube, when the idea of DLC was a foreign animal to the average console user, it was an acceptable practice to release a "new" game annually. These days, not so much.
In an interview, A dev guy said "No comment" about Nexus and NXT being in the game.
Guess we'll have to wait until the full roster reveal, but really hoping for Nexus/Daniel Bryan
As for NXT guys, just give out the guys who are obviously getting the push and leave it at that (Barret, Bryan, "Kaval"). The rest could be DLC.
I just hate playing SmackDown vs. Raw 2010 right now and seeing that half the roster isn't in the company anymore, and one of them is even dead. I hate trying to keep my titles up to date but not having the current champions in my game. I could not care less about adding new match types and minor tweaks here and there. I could play last year and this year's game for years at a time if they kept the rosters up to date.