PS3 SmackDown! canceled

The PlayStation 3 won't see a SmackDown! game for launch - or even this year - as series publisher THQ has announced that the PS3 version of WWE SmackDown! vs Raw 2007 has been canceled. The series will eventually appear on Sony's next-gen console, the company said, but not until the end of 2007.

The latest installment in the hugely successful WWE series will be released for Xbox 360, PSP and PS2 this November but those lucky enough to get a PS3 at launch will have to wait a further 12 months to get their hands on the latest SmackDown!

THQ's official statement said the reason behind the delay was to stay consistent with its goal of "delivering the highest quality content across all next-gen platforms." It therefore decided to "postpone the debut of the SmackDown! series on PlayStation 3 until the holiday 2007 timeframe".

This announcement came in response to rumors circulating that THQ had cancelled the PS3 version of the game. While the fact that the series will eventually arrive on the console is good news, it does give ammunition to the PS3's critics, who have stated that the Sony console will be particularly hard to develop for.

It's also a big loss to the potential launch lineup for PS3, especially given that SmackDown! has previously been exclusive to Sony consoles. Now the only way gamers can experience a next-gen SmackDown! this year is by getting hold of an Xbox 360.

July 24, 2006

CATEGORIES
Latest in Fighting
Minecraft characters Alex and Steve riding in mine carts in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, being chased by Bowser Jr..
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate villain Minecraft Steve is the star of the "best Smash clip of all time," as genius player makes a literal Trojan Horse to destroy an unsuspecting opponent
Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS key art.
Masahiro Sakurai says Super Smash Bros "might have died out" if not for late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata: "There's no doubt that he influenced me in many ways"
Mortal Kombat 2 3DO
After 32 years, Mortal Kombat 2 has finally been ported to the one hyper-expensive '90s console that could actually do it justice
jinx in 2xko weilding a big hammer with a smirk on her face
The League of Legends fighting game spin-off won't be getting its big playtest, but that's so that more of you can play it later this year
Retro Gamer
Retro Gamer celebrates Capcom’s greatest fighting games
A screenshot shows Fatal Fury ninja Mai performing a combat move in Street Fighter 6.
Fatal Fury's top anime girlfriend Mai "bounces" into Street Fighter 6, and her bouncy arrival is driving Capcom to horny madness: "She's giving fierce. She's slaying"
Latest in News
Monster Hunter Wilds
Monster Hunter Wilds art director and 20-year series vet says the new game intentionally leans into a question fans have debated forever: "What is a hunter?"
Absolum
The other devs behind the best retro beat-em-up in recent memory are making a co-op roguelike brawler that "channels the spirit" of Capcom's classic D&D games
Battlefield Bad Company 2
"I am freaked out by how much might actually have been accurate": Battlefield Bad Company 3 writer unearths forgotten script
Skyrim
Skyrim is still an all-time great for asset reuse: this hunk of human flesh could be some poor guard's glute, or probably just a piece of repurposed beef
best zombie games
"Don't bet on there being more of Last of Us": Asked about The Last of Us 3, Naughty Dog's Neil Druckmann says "this could be it"
Liam Neeson in The Phantom Menace
"Wise mentor" or "awful Jedi"? Star Wars fans are debating if Qui-Gon Jinn is to blame for Anakin's turn to the dark side