On July 26, 2016, IGN announced that The McMahon Family will be playable characters, which will include Stephanie McMahon, Shane McMahon and Vince McMahon.
At the event, John Cena, The Ultimate Warrior and Sasha Banks were the first three names revealed. On June 15, 2016, WWE announced that at E3 2016, the first roster reveal would be announced at 2K's booth by portrait artist Rob Schamberger. The game will be introducing a new secondary submission system similar to the Breaking Point system currently seen in the last-generation versions of the WWE 2K Series. The responsiveness of the gameplay also has been greatly improved, while each game systems were updated such as ladders and taunts. It also will see the return of backstage brawls which could transition from ringside during Falls Count Anywhere or No Disqualification matches, a feature last seen in SmackDown! Here Comes the Pain. Raw 2008, where it involves fighting into these backstage areas). WWE 2K17 sees the return of fighting in the crowd (which is the first time since SmackDown vs. The set will include Apollo Crews, Nia Jax and Shinsuke Nakamura as playable characters part of the NXT Enhancement Pack, a lithograph designed by Rob Schamberger and signed by Shinsuke Nakamura, an 8-inch collectible action figure of Demon Finn Bálor, trading cards, actual ring canvas from the NXT TakeOver: London event, 50% more points in NXT for M圜areer Mode as well as the Goldberg Pre-Order Pack. On July 14, 2016, WWE announced an NXT Collector's Edition. On June 27, 2016, a reveal trailer was released announcing that Brock Lesnar will be the cover star for WWE 2K17. 2K also announced that the game will include the two versions of Goldberg ( WCW and WWE), along with two playable arenas ( Halloween Havoc and WCW Monday Nitro). On May 31, 2016, WWE 2K17 was officially announced by WWE and 2K, when they revealed Goldberg as the pre-order bonus character accompanied by the debut trailer featuring Goldberg.