The reason why Brock Lesnar is on the cover of WWE 2K17 is because the idea is to have someone on the cover with mainstream appeal. The deal is done by 2K but the decision is a joint effort by 2K and Vince McMahon.
Previous WWE 2K covers have gone to Randy Orton, CM Punk, The Rock, John Cena and Steve Austin. The reason why Austin got the WWE 2K cover last year is because the feeling was that, aside from Cena and Lesnar, WWE didn’t have enough mainstream stars on the active roster.
The key with Lesnar for this year was getting him to agree to do promotional work for the game. He’s done some promo work for them and it helps that Paul Heyman is friendly with the people at 2K Sports. They also look for an “outside star” and this year it’s Goldberg. In previous years, the outside stars were Sting (before he signed with WWE), Ultimate Warrior, Mike Tyson and Lesnar (while he was still in UFC).
For those that missed it, here is the WWE 2K17 cover reveal:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4k71T-4SzF8
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