Colonel Sanders, purveyor of fried chicken, is in WWE 2K18. The announcement was made by Raw’s general manager, Kurt Angle, in a video on KFC’s Twitter feed.
Layeth the smacketh down on your friends in the best multiplayer games on PC.
The only thing better than one Colonel Sanders is one Colonel Sanders plus one WWE Superstar who looks a lot like Colonel Sanders. pic.twitter.com/lLPmEKvN36
— KFC (@kfc) October 9, 2017
If you were expecting Internet outrage decrying rampant product placement and demanding to know what a septuagenarian fast food mascot is doing in a wrestling game, you might be surprised by the response. On NeoGAFthere are two to four easy-goingJason Frosts(“Sure, why not?”) for every despairingArkhamFantasy (“is that what we are now”). Reception on the Twitter thread has been even more positive.
Earlier in the month publishers 2K announced there will be “no paid microtransactions” in the game, no doubt feeling the sting of the backlash to the implementation of virtual currency in NBA 2K18. Instead, it looks like they’ve doubled down on corporate sponsorships. In addition to Colonel Sanders appearing in the game, Destructoid spotted three sponsored achievements in the PlayStation trophy list (by Snickers, KFC, and the #FinishIT anti-smoking campaign).
I guess WWE is silly enough already (calm down, I mean that as a compliment) that Colonel Sanders doesn’t feel as awkward as he might in, say, a strait-laced UFC game. And it’s not like these bonkers celebrity guests are anything new for WWE games.
What’s your take? Let us know in the comments.