 WWE 2K is a series that has more than 20 of those professional wrestling video games that are currently developed by Visual Concepts and Yuke 's , and it was later published by 2K Sports . These series of games are based on the professional wrestling promotion WWE , which features the professional wrestling match types , storylines , and playable characters based on WWE programming . The series was originally named SmackDown ! , after it has garnered from the WWE 's own SmackDown television program . The first release in the series was WWF SmackDown ! in March 2000 , which along with these subsequent titles , remained exclusive to Sony 's PlayStation consoles . After the brand extension , the series was retitled SmackDown ! vs. Raw in 2004 , to indicate the Raw brand was also featured . Within a few years , the series had expanded to a yearly release cycle for various seventh @-@ generation consoles as well as mobile devices . Yuke 's had also released the games in Japan under the name of Exciting Pro Wrestling . However , after SmackDown ! vs. Raw 2006 , THQ took over as the Japanese publisher and the Japanese releases adopted the western name . The series was later renamed as just simply WWE , starting from 2011 and 2012 . 
