WWE 2K Battlegrounds will release in September

The main WWE series may be taking a break for the year (and for good reason), but WWE 2K Battlegrounds looks like a fun alternative. Like its stablemate NBA 2K Playgrounds, it takes a lighthearted approach to the otherwise very serious wrestling spectacle. 

As the trailer above shows, Battlegrounds is not a sim: fighters leap out of choppers onto the ring, magic fire is wielded against guitar playing foes, and there's a goat for some reason. All this and more will be available when WWE 2k Battlegrounds releases on Steam this September 18.

There will be three main modes. There are Exhibition matches, and a Campaign centered around the "adventures of seven new WWE hopefuls". These are joined by an elimination mode called King of the Battleground. 2K describes it as a "last-man-standing mode where four players start in the ring while four more wait outside to enter, challenging you to run the gauntlet and defeat them all."

Bizarre melee weapons will be strewn across the eight maps, and one of them will probably be the aforementioned goat. The game is available to pre-order on Steam right now.

Shaun Prescott
Australian Editor

Shaun Prescott is the Australian editor of PC Gamer. With over ten years experience covering the games industry, his work has appeared on GamesRadar+, TechRadar, The Guardian, PLAY Magazine, the Sydney Morning Herald, and more. Specific interests include indie games, obscure Metroidvanias, speedrunning, experimental games and FPSs. He thinks Lulu by Metallica and Lou Reed is an all-time classic that will receive its due critical reappraisal one day.

Latest in Sports
Tony Hawk doing a kickflip or whatever the hell it is in the cover art for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4
Tony Hawk apparently intervened to get Bam Margera into Pro Skater 3+4: 'No, you're gonna do it'
A goalkeeper in a plague mask wields an axe
Silent Hill gets a soccer league in FEAR FA 98, and you can play the demo now
Roman Reigns in the ring in WWE 2k25
WWE 2K25: Every superstar on the roster
Tony Hawk doing a kickflip or whatever the hell it is in the cover art for Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4
Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 + 4 remake is real, and it's coming in July with new skaters, parks, music, and more
Image for
Sure seems like the new Call of Duty map is teasing a Tony Hawk's Pro Skater game
Football players flying through the air
PC Gamer's simulated Super Bowl 2025 predicts Eagles victory, player getting hit so hard he flies out of the stadium and into the parking lot
Latest in News
Image of Cersei Lanniser from Game of Thrones: Kingsroad Steam early access trailer
A new Game of Thrones RPG is coming to Steam today with a cast of 'familiar faces,' which is good because it's really the only way to tell it's a GoT game at all
The new Prime Asset featured in the upcoming update for the Outlast Trials.
The Outlast Trials puts its already paranoid players under surveillance for a time-limited story event
A Viera looking confused in Final Fantasy 14.
Old armor continues to fall victim to Final Fantasy 14's bizarre two-channel dye system, unless you're super into changing the colour of teeny-tiny eyelets: 'Why even bother at this point?'
Starfield: Shattered Space
By the time Bethesda was on Starfield, you'd 'basically get in trouble' for breaking schedule, says former dev: 'A lot of the great stuff within Skyrim came from having the freedom to do what you want'
Otter AI Meeting Agent
As if your work meetings weren't already fun enough, now Otter has a new all-hearing AI agent that remembers everything anyone has said and can join in the discussion
Monster Hunter Wilds' stockpile master studying a manifest
As layoffs and studio closures continue to deathroll the western AAA industry, analyst points out 5 of 8 major Japanese companies hit all-time share prices this year