AEW’s Next Video Game Shouldn’t Be Just Another AEW Game

AEW Fight Forever started out with a relatively good reception when it first came out in 2023, as many fans welcomed the retro-style wrestling gameplay despite lacking polish. However, the same playerbase noticed a decline in quality and content, especially with delays in updates. Now, AEW Fight Forever seems to have been completed after its last DLC pack, so there won't be any more updates in the pipeline.

There have been rumors of frustrations between All Elite Wrestling (AEW) management and AEW Fight Forever developer Yuke's during the early stages of the game's development. There were also reports that AEW was allegedly looking for a different developer, possibly to work on a future licensed project. It's unfortunate to see how AEW Fight Forever ended up becoming, but AEW has an opportunity to maximize its partnerships with other wrestling promotions for its next video game.

WWE 2K25 on Nintendo Switch 2 Puts the Ball in AEW's Court

WWE 2K25 has officially been confirmed for the Nintendo Switch 2, which leaves rival AEW with an important decision to make.

Posts

By LB Beistad

AEW's Partnerships Could Bring in More Wrestlers From Other Promotions in Its Next Game

AEW has a talented main roster consisting of wrestlers like Kenny Omega, Mercedes Mone, Jon Moxley, and more. It also opened wrestling's "forbidden door" and inked partnerships with other wrestling promotions to diversify its shows, usually booking international talent from Japan and Mexico, and allowing AEW wrestlers to appear in approved independent events. Another benefit to this is that AEW and its partner promotions have managed to attract more fans from around the world.

AEW's Existing Partnerships

New Japan Pro-Wrestling (NJPW)
DDT Pro-Wrestling
Tokyo Joshi Pro Wrestling (TJPW)
Pro Wrestling Noah
World Wonder Ring Stardom
Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre (CMLL)

If AEW is working on the AEW Fight Forever successor, it has the perfect opportunity to feature select wrestlers from its partner promotions, fully opening the forbidden door in video game format. The likes of Zack Sabre Jr. And Hiromu Takahashi are dominating NJPW with their electrifying wrestling performance and charismatic presence. CMLL superstar Mistico has appeared on AEW a number of times, opening the doors for other luchadors from the promotion to be featured or be signed under the American promotion.

The Stardom partnership brought Mina Shirakawa to AEW, resulting in one of the most memorable storylines with Toni Storm and Mariah May, but the promotion also has several joshi wrestlers that AEW could tap, like Mayu Iwatani and Tam Nakano. It's the same with TJPW, where Maki Itoh and Miyu Yamashita, among many others, are attracting the attention of wrestling fans. Likewise, DDT and Noah helped bring in stars like Konosuke Takeshita and KENTA to AEW, and both promotions have been instrumental in molding many top wrestlers in the industry.

These are just some of the names that AEW could consider featuring in its next video game, which could level up the experience even more with a highly diversified roster. On paper, it could potentially one-up the successful WWE 2K franchise with a roster expansion such as this, while still putting the spotlight on AEW's existing pool of superstars. It would immortalize the talents and legacy of many wrestlers in a big video game title that's not just WWE. Plus, this would bring new eyes to AEW's next game, as fans of the Japanese and Mexican promotions might want to experience playing as their favorite stars on a console.

It's still unknown if AEW's next game will be a Fight Forever sequel, especially since fans are looking forward to another console game after the company released multiple mobile titles. But whatever it could be, hopefully, AEW could apply the lessons they learned from developing Fight Forever and its other titles to bring a great product to its fans. AEW has a lot of material to work with in terms of storylines over the past few years, from the "Timeless" Toni Storm saga to the bitter rivalry between "Hangman" Adam Page and Swerve Strickland, so it will be exciting to see how these will translate into a video game. AEW also has the opportunity to detail its entire history in a special format, documenting some of the best matches of the last seven years, to tug at the nostalgia of its longtime fans.

Rating block community and brand ratings Image