Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
In 2026, rock and metal will still have close ties to professional wrestling, both on your preferred game platform and in the ring, as per theprp. In relation to the latter, the soundtrack for this year’s installment of the yearly WWE 2K video game series has just been revealed. It features songs by diamond-certified nu metal stars Linkin Park, melodic hardcore favorites Turnstile, an industrial metal anthem from Powerman 5000 from the late 90s, a collaboration from Bad Omens x ERRA, a song from the recently reorganized metalcore supergroup Better Lovers, and more. The following is the complete track list for this year’s game, which takes place this Friday, March 6.
In 2000, the professional wrestling sports simulation video game series WWE 2K was released. The series’ aim is to mimic professional wrestling, particularly that of the World Wrestling Federation (WWF), which was formerly known as WWE. With the exception of 2021, the series has been released annually since WWF SmackDown! debuted on the original PlayStation. Before 2006’s WWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 brought the franchise to more platforms, it was only available on PlayStation. The series was renamed WWE 2K in 2013, starting with WWE 2K14.
The games were first created by Yuke’s and published by THQ under the WWF SmackDown! moniker; the WWF changed its name to WWE in 2002. The series was co-developed with Visual Concepts until Yuke’s departure in 2018. It started with WWE SmackDown! vs. Raw in 2004 and changed its name to WWE SmackDown vs. Raw before becoming simply WWE with 2011’s WWE ’12. 2K, formerly under the 2K Sports sub-label, took over as publisher after THQ’s bankruptcy, starting with 2013’s WWE 2K14. Starting with WWE 2K20 in 2019, Visual Concepts would assume responsibility for the series’ development. WWE 2K Battlegrounds, a spin-off, was launched in 2020 after the main series had a two-year break due to technological difficulties.
