Def Jam Vendetta might be coming back.
Speculation surrounding a new Def Jam game began when Def Jam’s Twitter account sent out a tweet that “HYPOTHETICALLY” asked fans which star they’d like to see on the cover of a modern-day Def Jam Vendetta. Not long after, they sent out another tweet asking which city they’d like to see such a game take place in.
It’s entirely possible that these tweets are nothing more than the result of a particularly bored (and slightly cruel) social media team who decided that the best way to kill some time would be to tease the return of a beloved franchise. It certainly wouldn’t be the first time that gamers have gotten their hopes up from a cryptic tweet.
Still, this strikes us as a strange question to ask out of the blue. It’s not like the label’s Twitter account has been asking this kind of question before. There’s a strong possibility that someone is working on the first Def Jam fighting/wrestling game since the release of 2007’s Def Jam Icon, and that certainly sounds fairly plausible.
Having said that, we do feel it’s our professional obligation to throw a little cold water on this rumor. First off, even if a new Def Jam game is in development, it likely won’t be developed by original franchise developer AKI Corporation who have since gotten out of the wrestling/fighting genre and renamed their company. That means that the incredible game engine (which was borrowed from those amazing N64 wrestling games) that powered the first two Def Jam games probably won’t be making a comeback.
As anyone who tried to play Def Jam: Icon will tell you, the Def Jam series just isn’t the same when AKI isn’t at the helm.
We’ll remain optimistic regarding the chances that we get another Def Jam game, but that game will have a lot to prove even if it does eventually get released.