Also Smackdown! vs. Raw Online is unlikely to hit the West without a redesign. This new franchise is a ”little different” from WWE All Stars.
The Smackdown! vs. Raw Online game ”is for Asia,” said THQ core games chief Danny Bilson. That means there’ll be no 2011 release in the US or EU for it. ”I don’t think there’s any chance of that coming to the US or Europe, not soon anyway. We don’t want to confuse Smackdown Vs. Raw! with that online free-to-play game,” he explained.
”That’s a big, expensive title, Smackdown Vs. Raw! - we will not do any cannibalisation of it at all. The online game is also designed uniquely for Asian playing habits and it would probably have to be modified creatively to bring it to the West.”
”So there’s no plan to bring it here - because what we do have a plan for on that brand is what you saw with All Stars. And next year you’ll see another new extension there in another way - that’s just as exciting as All Stars, but a little different.”
”We’re not talking about that yet,” added Bilson. ”We’re growing that brand basically through an alternate SKU every six months - the other SKUs are more friendly, easier and less simmy than Smackdown! Vs Raw.” The ‘simmy’ reference is to how it tries to emulate the actual show of WWE, letting players create their own wrestling ‘soap opera’.
WWE All Stars releases on Xbox 360, PS3, PSP, PS2 and Wii the first half of 2011.
