WWE 2K24’s Vince McMahon footage has been partly blurred out

06.03.2024 - 14:11 / videogameschronicle.com / Vince Macmahon / Jordan Middler / Brock Lesnar

WWE 2K24 has censored archival footage of Vince McMahon during certain sections of its Showcase mode.

McMahon, who is currently the subject of a sexual assault and trafficking lawsuit, appears in archival footage as part of the game’s WrestleMania Showcase, a mode in which players recreate famous WrestleMania matches

Most footage of McMahon has been blurred, which, due to his prominence in several cutscenes, leads to some moments in which half of the screen is taken up by a blurred face.

McMahon was not only the real-life head of the wrestling promotion, but also played the villainous Mr McMahon, an authoritarian character that was a mainstay of WWE programming for decades.

McMahon quit the organization after ex-WWE employee Janel Grant filed a lawsuit accusing him and a former executive of sexually assaulting and trafficking her to entice wrestling talent.

Despite being blurred in some Showcase scenes, McMahon isn’t fully censored from the mode. He does appears as an in-game character during a match between The Rock and Stone Cold Steve Austin, and appears unblurred during mid-fight cutscenes here.

McMahon was presumably intended for inclusion in the game’s full roster, as he has been for decades. However, following the allegations and his departure from the company, he is not unlockable in the game, and only appears in this Showcase match, likely due to the content of the match being ‘locked in’ prior to the recent allegations.

7-time WWE Champion and 3-time WWE Universal Champion Brock Lesnar is similarly censored in-game, due to an inference in the lawsuit against McMahon which implicated but didn’t name Lesnar.

Like McMahon, Lesnar features in Showcase mode but cannot be unlocked for play anywhere else in the game.