THQ and Yuke's Future Media Creators consider one reason the series has remained so popular is due to series bringing 'WWE programming to life through a host of key new features, extensive rosters with WWE's most popular Superstars, incredible graphics and engaging action in and beyond the ring.' The game engine for the series is based on that used by the Japanese professional wrestling video game series, Toukon Retsuden and Rumble Roses, a fictional professional wrestling series, both developed by Yuke's. The SmackDown! series is among the best-selling video game franchises with 47 million copies shipped as of 2009. Initially, the series was exclusive to PlayStation video game consoles, and was featured in all of the seventh generation consoles by 2008.
Raw 2007, THQ took over as the Japanese publisher and the series adopted the western name. The series was published by Yuke's and known as Exciting Pro Wrestling in Japan until 2005. Games in the series were primarily developed by the Japanese based company, Yuke's until WWE 2K19. The series was first published by THQ until 2013, when Take-Two Interactive's 2K Sports took over. Raw, and WWE Games) is a series of professional wrestling video games based on the American professional wrestling promotion WWE. WWE 2K Games (formerly WWF SmackDown!, WWE SmackDown!, WWE SmackDown vs.
