NBA and WWE studio Visual Concepts is making a AAA ‘open world driving game’ with a ‘major licence’
Job listings suggest the studio is expanding beyond sports games
Visual Concepts is working on a AAA open-world racing game with a “major licence”, according to new job listings being advertised.
A number of job listings are advertising for positions at the developer’s Foothill Ranch, California studio, some of which reference the new project.
The most notable of these is a listing for a producer role, which makes it clear that the game is a big-budget licensed title.
“Our Foothill Ranch studio is looking for a seasoned Producer to join our development efforts on an unannounced, open world driving game with a major license,” it reads. “This AAA title is targeted at multiple platforms.”
Another listing for a senior technical artist reads: “This role acts as a liaison between the programmers and artists working on a wide variety of features and tools for an exciting new open world driving game.”
The studio’s Twitter account bio has also been updated to read: “NBA 2K, WWE 2K, a new AAA game that will blow your mind: Visual Concepts has been making great games for 30 years.”
It’s not clear which “major license” the listing refers to. Visual Concepts’ parent, 2K, isn’t associated with any major racing series, though 2K’s parent Take-Two Interactive also owns Rockstar Games, whose Midnight Club series has been dormant since 2008.
Visual Concepts was founded in 1988 and has never led development on a racing game in its 34-year history.
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Take-Two confirms Visual Concepts will continue as WWE 2K developer
For the past two decades the developer has been almost exclusively focused on sports games, with 2007’s Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer being the only major exception.
The studio is mainly known for the NBA 2K series, which it has developed since its inception in 1999 with NBA 2K. It also took over development of the WWE 2K series in 2019, following publisher 2K’s decision to cut its ties with regular developer Yuke’s.
