WWE 2K23: How AI can change the very face of WWE games in future editions

So, WWE 2K23 is coming out in a little over a month. Also, AI is a thing now. Programs like ChatGPT and DALL-E have taken the concept of Artificial Intelligence from the realm of science fiction to "Oh, crap, this may take my job."

However, there are two points we're looking to make here. First, until proven otherwise, it doesn't seem like AI is going to replace actual living, breathing professional wrestlers anytime soon. Fingers crossed.

Secondly, it can benefit pro wrestling video games.

Taking a look at the different technologies available, we're going to consider how those technologies can make games like the WWE 2K series better.

Are we experts on the subject of AI technology? Of course not. Nor do we claim to be. However, everything we're about to suggest is well within the capabilities of the tech we're talking about.

In fact, if you aren't familiar with the current crop of AI tools, you may just be shocked at what you're about to read. If you are, please feel welcome to tell us what we got right and what we got wrong in the comments below.

Let's start with one of WWE 2K23's biggest selling points - Universe Mode.

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AI could help games like WWE 2K23 stay dynamic with current stories

Universe Mode in the last handful of WWE games has been one of the major reasons why fans buy them. Yes, a lot of it has to do with them just wanting to play a video game as their favorite WWE Superstar.

There's also a hefty portion that want to play online against other fans. However, it's safe to say that the majority want to create their own version of WWE. And, honestly, who wouldn't?

When it comes to that, programmers are pretty much limited to what they have on hand as they develop the game. A wrestler who was a babyface champion at the start of development may go through a total character change by the time the game is out. Or they could go through a major gimmick change. Or leave the company altogether. Or turn into a bird. I dunno, stuff happens.

Online capability allows for developers to change things like this on the fly - but it still takes a lot of work. Plugging current WWE events into a machine learning system that's trained to watch for things like that and adjust the game code appropriately can help players who want their Universe Mode to reflect the current TV product.

But what if players wanted to veer away from what happens on TV?

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AI can help players create their own WWE Universe

While the longtime vision of Artificial Intelligence is a machine that gains sentience - it thinks and acts like a living organism - current AI works differently. ChatGPT, for example, isn't a program that thinks it's alive. It's a program that acts like it's alive. It's also an algorithm that can take the variables it's given and rewrite itself based on those.

Basically, an AI behind a WWE 2K23 Universe mode can take into account two different variables: 1.) What is currently happening on WWE television, and 2.) what choices the player is making in the game.

Anyone who has played a recent WWE 2K game knows that playing through the Universe mode randomly throws events out there. Feuds, rivalries, and more are based on both what the player decides and also what the game just randomly tosses in.

Essentially, it takes a lot of work to make a 2K WWE Universe the way you want it to be. Machine learning can make that so much easier.

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AI can make voice acting in WWE games a breeze

Back in 2019, we did an article on WWE 2K game features we'd like to see... that were totally unreasonable. Looking back today (and also, keep your eyes open - we're going to do something similar for WWE 2K23 soon), most of those ideas are still pretty ridiculous.

However, one idea we suggested back then now seems totally possible thanks to AI. And that's "Voice acting for all WWE Superstars for everything." Well, there's an AI tool now that let's you create speech using any voice, saying anything you want. Just take a listen to this parody of WWE Hall of Famer Gorilla Monsoon hosting a podcast as if he were alive today. (Please note, the language here is very NSFW, which is why we aren't embedding it directly.)

Any WWE Superstar included in WWE 2K23 has got to have at least an hour's worth of their voice recorded. Plugging that into an AI that can recreate their voice without every one of them spending hours in a recording booth can do wonders for a game.

Obviously, there's legal stuff here to take into account - likeness and voice rights and all that - but just the concept itself could change wrestling games forever.

Finally, here's something for the game designers out there.

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AI tools could help reduce crunch during development

One of the reasons why WWE games - or even pro sports games in general - never seem to change is that they have a very short development cycle.

Because games like Madden NFL, NBA Live, and, of course, the WWE 2K series need to be released on a yearly basis, studios need to prioritize which aspect of the game they work on. Focusing on the game engine - the code that controls how the game plays and looks - means less time on new features, staying up to date with changes in the promotion (as we mentioned before), or anything outside of the bare bones of the game code.

But what if AI could automate a lot of the development process? What if, while most of the development team was working on making the game as technically amazing as possible, another team was working on just plugging in information to an AI? An AI that could keep content current up to release and beyond?

Let's be honest - most of the dialogue from the various Universe and Showcase modes in the WWE 2K games sounds like it was written by a robot anyway. So, why not have them written by a robot? It's worth a shot, anyway, right?

AND, it would ease the workload of dozens of game developers who work their butts off to make games like WWE 2K23 possible.

What do you think? How could current AI tech change the way we think about wrestling games? Hit us up in the comments down below.