WhatsTheStatus returns to 2K24 in ban U-turn

If you enjoy the WWE 2K games, you probably saw something on social media about someone called “Status,” and another one of those fan “X person did nothing wrong” posts. If you’re old and grumpy like me, you take no part in it, and look for an explanation by someone who speaks in full sentences. That includes if you wrote a review on the latest game and someone angry about this replies with “Nope. 2K @WWEGames is Toxic. Stay away.” Perfect, no notes, this summarizes why there is a fan campaign to reinstate @WhatsTheStatus and all of their community creations for WWE 2K24.

The long and short of it is basically that Status, a well-known and highly appreciated creator in the WWE 2K community, ended up modding the game a little to make the creations the community wanted. This can be former WWE personnel not featured in the title this year, it could be celebrities and other notable people (I’ve seen Jeffrey Epstein as a possible download), and so on. What 2K doesn’t like and ultimately features in its terms of service is the use of mods, which Status notes to doing, thus breaking the terms of service and resulting in the ban.

As noted by Herb Scribner of The Washington Post, 2K were aware of the community reaction and were set to address it “soon,” as of the 25th of April. As Scribner noted, there was at least some question over why the ban was applied when pornographic or other mature creations are constantly on there. However, it wasn’t until Friday-Saturday that 2K and Status would address the community in separate statements. Status noted on Twitter the ban was lifted and an agreement had been reached between the two.

.@WWEgames & I have met on how my mods can impact the game.

We've come to an agreement, and a fair one at that.

Thank you guys for the support, thanks to all of you, my ban has been lifted.

I am free #WWE2K24 pic.twitter.com/s6Ypx7QJIm

— 𝕾𝖙𝖆𝖙𝖚𝖘™ (@WhatsTheStatus) April 27, 2024

2K’s PR department made its statement on R/WWEGames, noting: “We’ve heard your voices and wanted to let you know we’ve met with Status and had a productive discussion, touching on stability concerns and performance issues related to some popular mods. As a result of this discourse, we are lifting Status’ ban, effective immediately, working with him to bring back some of his content [that] doesn’t cause stability issues, and moving forward with him towards a common understanding.“ With a bit towards the end about moving forward, something directed straight at the reactionaries shouting at others without context.

Community backlash is important, as we see here, but for the love of all that is holy, give people context. Instead of shouting at them to join your cause, maybe explain what it is you are so angry about in the first place. As Status and 2K make clear in the statements, it is only some of Status’ creations that are returning to 2K24, though there is no exact word on what will and won’t be returning at the time of writing. Hopefully moving forward the publisher can make a quicker and clearer statement than almost a week after the ban happened.