WWE 2K24 and Madden 25 Must Avoid One Major Mistake in 2024

As the new year gets rolling, anticipation is already building for some of the biggest releases of 2024. Among those we already know to expect, Madden 25 and WWE 2K24 will once again try to push their simulation franchises forward.

Unfortunately, there's one massive mistake both games are in danger of making during a pivotal year for each series. Locking important legends behind game modes doesn't actually incentivize people to play them, and these issues need to be fixed for WWE 2K24 and Madden 25.

Microtransaction Machines: Ultimate Team & MyFACTION

Let's get right into the issue here, because studio decisions pushing players to spend as much money as possible on these titles appears to be the sole cause of a major problem. However, it's a newer problem for one half of this equation. While Madden 25 is due to face an issue that has long plagued the franchise, WWE 2K24 may end up chaining that series to this tactic for the foreseeable future.

Both games focus somewhat on the modern day stars of the WWE and NFL, but they rely heavily on legends and the history of their sport. Ultimate Team and MyFACTION both lock legends, entire player characters, to that game mode and keep them from being used in any other part of the game. Both of these modes are about collecting cards featuring greats of the past and present to make your own lineup, and they heavily utilize grinding and the "pack mechanic" of needing to earn packs with random chances at unlocking rare cards.

This kind of game mode has become a staple of pretty much every major sports game in the industry over the last decade, but WWE only hopped on that bandwagon beginning with WWE 2K22. NBA 2K has MyTEAM, FIFA (now EA FC) and NHL have Ultimate Team, and even MLB The Show has Diamond Dynasty. All of the modes suffer from their own unique issues driven by pushing fans to spend more money, but only Madden and WWE seem to be stuck on locking legends to the mode.

NBA, MLB, and NHL Legends Are Not Locked

If you want an example of how to handle legends correctly, even notoriously microtransaction obsessed NBA 2K24 got this one right. NBA 2K24 has opted to let players literally buy their way to Level 40 every six weeks and sells Virtual Currency for the cost of the entire game, but they also included the most comprehensive franchise mode in sports gaming with MyNBA Eras which is packed to the brim with legends.

NBA 2K24, MLB The Show 23, NHL 24, and other titles released in recent years for those three franchises, have all included alumni teams as a part of the core game. You can go to Exhibition or Play Now, and check out a team that's full of the greatest that team has ever had. Who doesn't want that? What sports fan wouldn't want to see what their favorite team's dream lineup would play like?

As a result of them building these teams into the game, they also made all of those legends part of the game's existing roster. You can transfer any legendary player in the NBA, MLB, or NHL games from one of those alumni teams onto your own custom roster to use in Franchise Mode or play exhibition games with. It's not exactly something that would be particularly difficult when the players already exist in other modes, and yet Madden and WWE seem allergic to this concept.

WWE 2K24 and Madden 25 Need Legends Everywhere in 2024

Madden 24 didn't have legendary players anywhere other than Ultimate Team, and WWE 2K23 was filled with MyFACTION exclusive characters to the point that they started blocking modders uploading those characters to Community Creations. As many players have pointed out in the past, the bare minimum expecation would be making players or characters unlocked in MyFACTION or Ultimate Team become usable in other parts of the game.

However, that solution ignores the reality of their player base. Gamers who don't like these modes aren't going to try them over a few unlockables, and doing that would make this even more of a cash grab. Madden 25 desperately needs alumni teams, and the fact that Ultimate Team so heavily pushes Theme Teams (a chemistry bonus from using past and present players from the same team) means they already have the pieces to make this a reality.

The same is true for WWE 2K23, as the versions built into MyFACTION could easily function elsewhere in the game. If Madden 25 and WWE 2K24 want to become massive steps forward for their respective franchises, getting exclusives out of these modes is an absolute must.