While the WWE 2K22 roster has been in flux with delays and mass releases, the latest one may actually signal good news about the game upon release.
We've got all the details on how two recently released superstars may still find their way to the final WWE 2K22 roster.
Jeff Hardy released despite being on the confirmed WWE 2K22 roster
With WWE 2K22 still a few months away, the general expectation has been that the WWE 2K22 roster is still in flux and subject to change.
However, the recent release of wrestling luminary Jeff Hardy is the most intriguing of them all when it comes to the ongoing development of WWE 2K22.
While we'd heard some time ago that NXT stars like Bronson Reed were being considered for the game, no footage had actually been seen confirming their presence in WWE 2K22.
That's not the case with Jeff Hardy, as he was spotlighted in the WWE 2K22 Feature Reveal Trailer and shown in a match with Kofi Kingston.
Hardy's presence in that footage confirms he's already been scanned and programmed into the game's core roster, and that may mean he won't be removed.
We don't know the cutoff point at which the WWE 2K22 roster will become fixed and unable to be changed prior to release, but another recent WWE release brings a ray of hope there.
Chelsea Green reveals she was already scanned for WWE 2K22
Something that has remained unconfirmed by specific talent, but was already speculated upon by many, is that certain WWE superstars were scanned for WWE 2K22 prior to their release.
We've finally got more details on that, as former superstar Chelsea Green spoke about it on an episode of her "Green with Envy" podcast.
“Yes, I was [scanned], but I don’t know much about the video game world,” Green said. “I just have no idea how that works. I also thought that I would never become an action figure and yet, I did after I was released. So yes, I definitely think there’s a chance I can still be in it. I was definitely scanned my last time at TV, and then I was released two weeks later. So there is absolutely a possibility, but I don’t know. I hope so.” [H/T WrestlingNews.co for transcription]
The note of action figures has come up before, as other recently released WWE superstars have had action figures already in production get released after they left the company.
This makes sense for action figure production, as there would likely already be sunk cost in the physical production of the items that WWE hopes to recoup.
WWE 2K22 physical copy could become a rare item
Things are a bit less clear with WWE 2K22, as the modern reality of gaming means characters can be removed with a simple update, and we don't know when the cutoff is for the "Day One" version of WWE 2K22.
Generally, a copy of the game has to be submitted ahead of release that's verified and screened, and from that point any other changes made have to be accomplished with the "Day One Update" that most titles receive.
This usually has to do with final touches fixing bugs or correcting small in-game mistakes, but with WWE 2K22 it could include very different changes.
Depending on how WWE and Visual Concepts decide to proceed, we could even see a rare physical "day one" version of WWE 2K22 become extremely rare if the "Day One Update" removed multiple stars.
This would allow players to play the physically released copy on a console not connected to the internet without having to lose anything changed in that update.
We should know more about the final WWE 2K22 in roster when they go through the final string of reveals and make announcements like cover star and release date.