Over 2 years after the All Elite Wrestling (AEW) title was announced in development for consoles, its title was all but confirmed by fans who attended Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite / Rampage live show in Pittsburgh. President and CEO Tony Khan told the audience that they would be in the upcoming video game which he referred to as AEW: Fight Forever, followed by the ring announcer asking them to perform chants that would be recorded for use in the game. Fight Forever was also thought to be the game’s name based on a patent request seen in March.
Japanese developer Yuke’s is developing this debut AEW console title. From 2000 to 2018, they had been responsible for the WWE Smackdown/ WWE 2K series along with publisher 2K. Its release date is not confirmed, but might be released this September according to wrestling website Fightful Select, where an AEW source reportedly shared the considered release window. It also reported that the wrestling game will have a publisher, though it will be officially unveiled by the time the official release date is announced.
There is not much more information about the game other than it will have a story mode, which will include the input from wrestlers themselves. There has also been a bit of in-game footage that AEW and Yuke’s has shown so far, and it looks similar to the graphics in WWE 2K. Its playable character roster is also unsure of, though in September 2020, it was confirmed that the late Owen Hart would make a posthumous appearance as a playable wrestler.
Previously, 2K Games had ended their collaboration with Yuke’s in 2019 due to disagreements. Their last release, WWE 2K19 was considered to be a return to form for the series but still criticized for a decline in quality. At that point, Yuke’s already considered creating their own rival IP (AEW). Yuke’s hoped that the friendly contrast would help the WWE development team to become more passionate about their project rather than simply working to complete assigned tasks. In May 2019, senior vice president and producer Hiromi Furuta told Video Game Chronicle, “I think having no competitor isn’t healthy at all. When we had competitors in the wrestling space, we were determined not to lose and that was a great motivator for creating something great”. Later, in August 2019, it was announced that Yuke’s would not be responsible for the development of the WWE series any longer.