Yuke's smacks down US office

Japanese developer of the popular WWE wrestling games announces plans to set up shop stateside.

For years, the WWE SmackDown! vs. RAW and Day of Reckoning series have been the top wrestling franchises in the United States. However, their developer, Yuke's Company, Ltd., has never had a North American office in its 13-year history. Since 1999, SmackDown publisher THQ, which partially owns Yuke's, has instead acted as the primary point of transpacific contact for the shop, which has also developed Rumble Roses for Konami.

THQ recently announced a long-term partnership with Yuke's that will see the two companies making games together for years to come. Today, though, Yuke's announced plans to establish its own North American office. Inventively titled Yuke's Company of America, the subsidiary will publish games for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 2, and PlayStation Portable systems. No location for the office had been made public as of press time.

58 Comments

  • blacklodus

    Posted Jul 22, 2006 2:11 pm PT

    Good news Yukes is a great game maker

  • Le-Beave

    Posted Jun 16, 2006 9:06 am PT

    That's great, as long as it doesnt affect the quality of the games.

  • jaredwilder

    Posted Jun 10, 2006 8:21 pm PT

    yay WRESTLING!

  • kfrogg

    Posted Jun 8, 2006 1:33 pm PT

    lets hope the move makes a better smackdown vs raw game

  • ff7cloudking

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 5:00 pm PT

    Nice news

  • alberto2045

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 4:26 pm PT

    whos that?

  • LordGamer0001

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 3:22 pm PT

    i dont think i have every heard of yuke

  • MadGamer132

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 2:32 pm PT

    Yuke's make the SmackDown!/SmackDown! vs. Raw games, and i got every single one, i didn't got the Day of Reckoning games games for the GameCube just yet. Now, a office in the US!. kudos, to THQ! i can't what they have in store.

  • comthitnuong

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 1:27 pm PT

    i dont like wrestling

  • Artemis_D

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 12:58 pm PT

    I'm glad to hear it.

  • GOLIATHtheGREAT

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 12:36 pm PT

    Hopefully now Yukes will release thier D1 GrandPrix games here in the U.S. now.......................

  • icemancell

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 12:17 pm PT

    why dont they get AKI (developed original WCW NWO games for N64) to make the games? Wish they just make the good old button masher rather than the previous ones.

  • nintendofreak_2

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 12:16 pm PT

    and your point is....?

  • WWEKane1515

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 11:50 am PT

    This kicks ass,now finally we can actually talk to yuke's on the phone without having to learn how to sprak Japanesse,and the shipping will be shorter and possibly we will get more wrestling games sooner than before,GO YUKE'S!!!!

  • aatish_n

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 11:46 am PT

    umm...who cares

  • Rumstocker

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 10:01 am PT

    k

  • WolfSkill5544

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 9:46 am PT

    That's so cool.

  • YEPEE00

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 9:28 am PT

    You've all said everything. guess, i just get to make noises. (edited)

  • CountZero

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 9:22 am PT

    Hmm... I wonder if their setting up an office in the US involves more then just publishing their own titles. Remember, they recently bought Japan's biggest wrestling promotion - New Japan Pro Wrestling, not too long ago. Could we possibly finally start seeing DVDs from Japanese feds come out in the US again?

    (Note: The last Puroetsu fed to release DVDs in the United States was the now-defunct Japanese promotion Frontier Martial Arts, or FMA, which had an working arrangement with ECW to trade talent).

  • sasuke55

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 9:05 am PT

    Good news. Hmmmm I have about 17.5 acres in North Carolina I wonder if they would buy it??? especially since of the new incentives they give for having gaming offices there?????

    Even if I tried to email or contact the company they would prolly think I was yanking their chain and dismiss me.

  • tergeoglou

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 8:15 am PT

    yukes needs to buy aki so they can stop making def jam games and get back to real wrestling. aki games were always better than yukes.

  • hazuki

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 7:15 am PT

    ...I still think wwf war zone from acclaim for the n64 was the best wrestling game as the new ones are just soooo slow!

  • WhompU

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 7:00 am PT

    Well that's good. But if they can't get that god-awful collision detection fixed I am going to go nuts. But hey, at least the japanese are bringing another developer stateside to help with jobs. I think I'm turning japanese, I really think so.

  • Kenzo287

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 6:26 am PT

    This comment that I am posting right now has a bigger point than anything else on this page right now.

  • blackIceJoe

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 5:56 am PT

    This is cool news I wonder what kind of PSP games we can see soon plus the 360 and PS3 thats cool.

  • jonnyjd

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 5:34 am PT

    good for them...I guess...

  • sancezz

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 5:32 am PT

    People care? O.O

  • Grant_Guy

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 4:12 am PT

    ...

  • Fallout_red

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 4:06 am PT

    I love the company and their games. Kool news.

  • faizali86

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 1:17 am PT

    wwf attitude? i couldnt stop laughing after playing that game. i almost quit playing wrestliing games after that

  • gcfreak898

    Posted Jun 7, 2006 1:10 am PT

    I think Akklaim did a better job since WWF Attitude was the greatest wrestling game ever. Plus, Thq has never topped WWF Attitude.

  • vgmkyle

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 11:42 pm PT

    Go Yukes!

  • Blazer88

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 11:40 pm PT

    Cool

  • Reetesh

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 10:43 pm PT

    Great! Now amercian Testers can give their opinion on what lacks and what can be improved in the next games

  • unarmedmaster

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 9:57 pm PT

    what does this mean? nothign.. big deal

  • kanik_da_kool

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 9:48 pm PT

    who cares???

  • cyprus646

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 9:29 pm PT

    YUKE'S IS A JAPENESE COMPANY????? THAT ALONE IS BREAKING NEWS TO ME .

  • NnyCW

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 9:13 pm PT

    Now, if only the Yuke's games played as well as the Spike developed Fire ProWrestling games or their King of Colosseum games or even AKI's WCW/nWo Revenge, WWF WrestleMania 2000 or WWF No Mercy games. The SmackDown games just always seem too arcadey and lack any sense of wrestling. (And it's not enough to the arcade side to be a really fun arcade game, like Sega's Giant Gram series.) You can pretty much, save finishers, just nail any move you want whenever you want. The whole "stamina meter" is a step in the right direction, but there's still a long, long way to go.

    On the plus side, the Yuke's games are always the prettiest.

  • wwf20112

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 9:03 pm PT

    very nice to hear.

  • NeoJedi

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 8:59 pm PT

    Excellent news on the partnership... WWE SmackDown vs. Raw games are always pretty exciting.

  • rynmls

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 8:55 pm PT

    gud for you...

  • tomamagic

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 8:54 pm PT

    Wrestling just hasn't really been the same since the days of Stone cold, The Rock, Mankind, etc.

  • johnathan111

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 8:52 pm PT

    that great news, now i can get more games to play

  • dcl1993

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 8:40 pm PT

    Just make the dang game already..

  • Attitude2000

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 8:37 pm PT

    Maybe current wrestling info can get to them sooner.

  • -L-U-I-S-

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 8:22 pm PT

    Great news

  • 247k

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 8:17 pm PT

    oooooooooooookay!?

  • thekey

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 8:14 pm PT

    Wow!!!

  • newfg311

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 8:03 pm PT

    Ok DaGhost1, if you don't give a rats ass about wrestling games, then why read an article about, ummm, wrestling games and then put up a post about it? Good way to spend your time.

  • Truth01

    Posted Jun 6, 2006 7:54 pm PT

    lol no nintendo love

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