As someone who’s been wrestling with gaming controversies for over a decade, I’ve seen my fair share of questionable monetization schemes. But WWE 2K26’s new Ringside Pass system? This might just take the cake. When I first heard about it, I couldn’t believe what I was reading. Pay for DLC, then grind to unlock it, or pay again to skip the grind? Seriously?
Let me break down why this has the gaming community absolutely furious and whether we should be worried about this becoming the new normal.
The Ringside Pass is 2K’s replacement for traditional DLC packs in WWE 2K26. Instead of buying DLC characters and getting them immediately (you know, like you’d expect), you now buy a premium battle pass for $9.99 per season that locks those same characters behind 40 tiers of progression.
Here’s how it works:
You earn “RXP” (Ringside Experience Points) by playing matches across most game modes. But here’s the kicker – online custom lobbies don’t reward RXP, and you need an online connection just to progress.
Look, I get it. Battle passes are everywhere now. Fortnite, Call of Duty, Apex Legends – they all use this model. But there’s a crucial difference that makes WWE 2K26’s system feel particularly predatory.
Most battle pass games are free-to-play. You download Fortnite for free, and the battle pass is how developers make their money. That’s a fair trade-off. WWE 2K26, however, costs $70 for the standard edition, $100 for deluxe, and up to $150 for the ultimate edition.
You’re already paying full price for a complete game. Then you’re expected to pay again for DLC (which is fine!), but then you’re expected to either grind for hours or pay a third time to actually access that DLC.
As one Reddit user perfectly put it: “That’s like paying for a movie ticket and being told you have to mop the lobby floors before they’ll let you see the ending.”
When I started digging into the numbers, my jaw hit the floor. Here’s the breakdown of what completionists could be looking at:
Total cost to unlock everything: $610-675
That’s not a typo. We’re talking nearly seven hundred dollars for a single wrestling game that’ll be essentially worthless in a year when WWE 2K27 comes out.
The announcement post on X accumulated over 200,000 views but drew 225 quote tweets and 443 replies, with top critical responses garnering hundreds to thousands of likes. The gaming community is absolutely not having it.
Primary complaints include:
In an interview with Polygon, Visual Concepts game designer Cornell Gunter tried to explain the system’s benefits. He emphasized that there’s no pay-to-win element, no attribute boosts, and that “content never goes away” – you can always go back and complete previous seasons.
He also mentioned that each Ringside Pass costs the same as previous DLC packs ($9.99) and includes more content overall, including things “the community has been asking for.”
But here’s what the defense misses: The fundamental issue isn’t the amount of content or the price – it’s the principle. If I pay for something, I should get it. Period. Making me grind for content I already purchased feels disrespectful of my time and money.
Remember the Star Wars Battlefront 2 controversy from 2017? EA locked iconic characters like Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker behind massive grinds in a $60 game, then offered paid shortcuts. The backlash was so intense that EA had to completely overhaul their progression system.
WWE 2K26 is doing essentially the same thing, just with a battle pass coat of paint to make it seem more acceptable because “everyone has battle passes now.” The difference is that Battlefront 2’s grind was for characters included in the base game. WWE 2K26’s grind is for DLC you specifically paid extra money to access. That’s arguably worse.
Here’s what really keeps me up at night: If WWE 2K26 sells well despite this system, other publishers will absolutely copy it. The gaming industry watches what works financially, not what players prefer morally.
Imagine if Madden, FIFA, NBA 2K, and other sports games adopt similar systems. Then fighting games, shooters, and eventually open-world titles. We could be looking at a future where even single-player games lock content you’ve paid for behind grinds or additional payments.
As someone who loves wrestling games and has bought every WWE 2K installment since the beginning, this feels like a betrayal. I want to support the developers who create these amazing experiences, but not at the cost of anti-consumer practices.
The Ringside Pass represents everything wrong with modern AAA game monetization – taking free-to-play systems designed for free games and cramming them into $70+ premium releases. While some features like non-expiring passes are improvements, the core concept of paying for DLC, then grinding or paying again to unlock it is indefensible.
If you’re as concerned about this as I am, here’s what you can do:
WWE 2K26’s Ringside Pass is bad for players. There’s no reasonable defense for charging someone for DLC, then making them grind to unlock it, then charging them again to skip the grind you created.
The arguments that “it’s just a battle pass” or “this is normal now” miss the point. It shouldn’t be normal in $70+ games. We as consumers need to draw a line in the sand and say enough is enough.
What do you think about the Ringside Pass system? Are you okay with grinding for DLC you’ve purchased, or do you see this as a step too far? Let me know in the comments below.
