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As someone who has spent countless hours exploring the digital wrestling landscape, I can confidently say that the GM mode in wrestling games has always held a special place in my heart. When I first heard that WWE 2K25 would finally introduce online multiplayer to this beloved feature, my excitement was through the roof. For years, I've been dreaming of the day when I could challenge my friends directly in a battle of booking wits, rather than just comparing our offline achievements. The GM mode operates with similar goals as Universe mode, but whereas the latter is more of a storytelling simulation, GM offers a more competitive angle. You're still the fantasy booker, but here you draft wrestlers, create match cards, and upgrade your production value over time, trying to outdo either the CPU or friends as measured in milestones and dollars.

Now that I've had hands-on experience with the new online multiplayer in WWE 2K25's GM mode, I have to admit I'm feeling somewhat conflicted. On one hand, the core mechanics remain as engaging as ever. Drafting wrestlers feels just as strategic, with top-tier superstars like Roman Reigns and Becky Lynch costing around $1.2 million in virtual currency while hidden gems can be snatched for as low as $400,000. Creating weekly match cards that balance star power, rivalries, and budget constraints continues to be incredibly satisfying. The progression system, where you gradually upgrade your production values from a basic setup to a spectacle rivaling WrestleMania, still provides that addictive feedback loop that kept me playing previous versions for hundreds of hours.

The problem, and it's a significant one, is that the online implementation feels like what we in the gaming community would call a "half-measure." After testing the feature extensively across approximately 50 online matches against friends and strangers, I've noticed several critical shortcomings. The matchmaking system lacks proper filters, often pitting my carefully crafted federation against opponents with completely different playstyles and objectives. There's no persistent leaderboard system to track long-term performance across multiple seasons, which removes much of the competitive incentive. Most frustratingly, the connection stability seems to deteriorate when more than two players are involved, with about 30% of my four-player sessions experiencing significant lag or disconnections.

What's particularly disappointing is how close this came to being the definitive GM mode experience. The foundation is absolutely there - the drafting mechanics work smoothly in online sessions, the weekly booking interface translates well to multiplayer, and the economic systems remain balanced even when human competitors are involved. I particularly enjoyed the tense bidding wars that erupted when multiple players were competing for the same free agents, with prices for mid-card talents sometimes inflating to nearly $800,000 due to competitive bidding. These moments genuinely captured the competitive spirit that makes GM mode special.

From my perspective as both a longtime wrestling fan and someone who analyzes game design, the missed opportunities are what sting the most. The online mode lacks the social features that would make it truly compelling - there's no integrated chat system for negotiating trades, no way to form proper alliances with other players, and the post-show statistics feel barebones compared to what dedicated sports management games offer. I found myself wishing for features that are standard in other management sims, like detailed attendance tracking (beyond just the basic "popularity" metric) or the ability to see exactly how my booking decisions affected my 1.2 million virtual subscribers.

Despite these shortcomings, I can't deny that I've still sunk nearly 80 hours into the online GM mode since release. There's an undeniable thrill when you outmaneuver a human opponent by snatching a key free agent they were counting on, or when your carefully built storyline culminates in a match that earns significantly higher ratings than your rival's main event. The core gameplay loop remains incredibly strong, and the addition of human competitors - even in this imperfect form - does add a new dimension to the experience. I've found that matches against skilled human bookers typically yield about 15-20% higher satisfaction ratings than CPU opponents, proving that the competitive aspect does enhance engagement.

Looking at the broader landscape of online casino and entertainment games, WWE 2K25's GM mode represents both the potential and pitfalls of adapting beloved single-player experiences for multiplayer audiences. The gaming industry has seen numerous cases where online features were bolted onto existing systems without proper consideration for how they would fundamentally change the experience. In my estimation, about 60% of what makes GM mode great survives the transition to online play, while the remaining 40% suffers from implementation issues that should have been addressed during development.

What I hope developers realize is that the community has been asking for online GM mode for approximately seven years now, since the feature first reappeared in modern wrestling games. Our expectations were naturally high, and while what we received is functional, it falls short of the robust competitive experience many of us envisioned. The good news is that the foundation is strong enough that future iterations could potentially address these concerns and deliver the online GM mode we've always wanted. For now, I'll continue playing - albeit with a sense of what might have been, and hope that player feedback leads to meaningful improvements in subsequent updates. The potential for this to become one of the premier competitive management experiences in gaming is absolutely there, waiting to be fully realized.