2K Games, the makes of the WWE 2K24 video game, has recently banned two popular content creators (“WhatsTheStatus” and “MattyM“) from their community creations section, with one getting a complete and permanent lifetime ban from the wrestling game franchise.
The creators are known for amazing high-quality replications of wrestlers, arenas, and other WWE and non-WWE images that have breathed life into the WWE 2K franchise for many months after the developers closed up shop and are preparing for the next WWE 2K game release.
Starting on April 23, 2024, Status posted that all of his creations on the Community Creations section of WWE 2K24 have been removed.
They removed my uploads, not me. no idea what I will do next as this is overall tedious and boring at this point.
Appreciate the support, regardless of what happens next!#WWE2K24 pic.twitter.com/3NuaeuqV6n
— 𝕾𝖙𝖆𝖙𝖚𝖘™ (@WhatsTheStatus) April 22, 2024
Not long after making the post above informing his followers to what has happened, Status was presented with a screen that appeared when loading up his copy of WWE 2K24 stating his account has been permanently banned with no chance for appeal.
Update #WWE2K24 https://t.co/GXPdCdPRm2 pic.twitter.com/NcNJkOML3V
— 𝕾𝖙𝖆𝖙𝖚𝖘™ (@WhatsTheStatus) April 23, 2024
Of course, as soon as these two notifications were made public, the WWE 2K24 community did what they do best: Started a hashtag with #FreeStatus, which went on to trend on the social media platform for the next 2 days straight, garnering more than over 10,000 views within 24 hours.
WhatsTheStatus’ removal has brought about conversation as to why he was banned from the game. The simple answer is that Status used his skills to create characters using “Hidden Assets”, meaning he was finding the image files that were already in the game that are hidden from being playable (NPC’s like Management types of Adam Pierce, Managers like Paul Heyman) due to either not being needed for gameplay, removed due to recent events (Brock Lesnar & Vince McMahon), non-intended purposes (Status modded female wrestlers to be allowed to face off against male wrestlers, something the game does not allow), or content that 2K Games want to keep locked behind the MyRise or DLC paywalls.
2K Games wants people to pay… I mean… “play” their MyRise content to “unlock” a bunch of different characters and outfits. With someone like Status giving this content away for free, it looks to be that he has angered someone in 2K Games management or affected the “bottom line”.
What 2K Games needs to focus on is the constant influx of pornographic content that floods the Community Creations image uploads on a daily basis instead of banning a talented creator for uploading content that the company wants to nickel and dime players for
To add to the stupidity from 2K Games, another creator, MattyM, also had his content removed from the Community Creations section recently. Unlike Status’ content, MattyM doesn’t use any hidden content in his arena creations, but he does use methods that “break” the boundaries of the arena creator to add content into sections where he technically shouldn’t.
It's a sad day yall, unfortunately all my creations have now been taken down by @WWEgames aswell.
I'm not sure what to do at this point, doing this for yall is my escape and helps alot with my mental health and I just don't understand what they get for doing this
— MartyM (@PrinceMartyM) April 24, 2024
As of this writing, MattyM’s content has been able to be reuploaded under his original account. But his content removal shows that 2K Games is waging a war against Community Content creators for making things better than what their developers have done with the game… And the actual WWE 2K24 community is not happy about it.
This story ends on a bit of a cliffhanger, with WhatsTheStatus posting recently that his social media account on X has been followed by WWE Games, the official promotional page for the game, meaning that there might be contact between the two in order to work out some sort of solution where Status can return to the game, making content as usual but probably with restrictions attached… However, according to the Washington Post’s Herb Scribner, Status’ ban is still ongoing and will not be addressed
2K confirmed to me that #WWE2K24 creator WhatsTheStatus has received an indefinite ban over terms of service violations.
"The player in question has received an indefinite ban due to violations of terms," 2K said in a statement.
"Mods which negatively impact the game experience… pic.twitter.com/OLO9gJXy8y
— Herb Scribner (@HerbScribner) April 24, 2024
In light of the suspension and banning of two of the more popular creators, other known creators in the Community Creations space for WWE 2K24 have expressed that they are going to stop uploading their creations to WWE 2K24 until Status is allowed back on the game, with others either uninstalling the game completely (Along with many players such as myself) or even leaving the 2K Content Creator Program.
It is one thing to protect your IP and assets, but there is nothing stopping people from creating content themselves through means that replicate what might be behind a paywall or relating to hidden content. There are hundreds of creators who made characters that are locked away due to various reasons, but seeing that some of the more popular ones are being bullied and forcefully removed from the game is going to backlash big time for 2K Games.
