WWE 2K23 releases tomorrow, March 17th, but it has already run into controversy for including a playable Vince McMahon in the game. The longtime WWE executive has been battling sexual misconduct allegations following a damning Wall Street Journal report published last summer.
WWE 2K23 Vince McMahon controversy explained
Last year, 76-year-old McMahon was accused of paying millions of dollars as hush money to four women to settle claims of sexual misconduct and sign nondisclosure agreements to keep his affairs a secret. All four women were previously affiliated with the WWE.
Shortly afterwards, McMahon announced his retirement and stayed out of the public eye until January of this year, when he claimed he’s back on board to help sell WWE.
First reported by Axios, McMahon was surprisingly included in WWE 2K23 as a playable character. This was not disclosed by developer Visual Concepts and was not known until now.
Visual Concepts has not responded to any requests for comments so it’s unclear why McMahon was added to the game. It’s possible that his character was already part of WWE 2K23 before the allegations surfaced and the studio just hasn’t gotten around to removing it.
It’s unclear if the character will be removed post launch.
