-- AEW's first video game - Fight Forever - was launched in the summer of 2023 and it received mixed reviews from gamers with fans noting that while it was fun and easy to pick, the game lacked depth and ran into various bugs ended up being a turnoff for players. Insider Gaming reported in April that part of the reason was likely because there was pressure on the developers to "deliver something faster than what it should've been."
-- Now the same outlet is reporting that the future of AEW video games hangs in the balance as the company is "strongly considering" finding a new development partner moving forward.
“They [AEW] knows that things didn’t go the way they expected. The game was over-budget and it under delivered when it came out. It has AEW strongly considering moving to a new developer for their games.”
-- The story adds that AEW is trying to sort ouf where to go with their games as the original contract with Yuke's included one year of post-launch updates which came in the form of four season passes that added wrestlers and other features. The last DLC pack game was release din July, adding Jay White and since then, there have been talks of adding new signings such as Will Ospreay, Mercedes Mone and Kazuchika Okada to the game roster but it's not known where talks currently stand.
-- While the relationship between AEW and Yuke's has been strained from the get go, it's still possible that the relationship can be salvaged as there were some positives and some people involved don't want to give up after one game. AEW does own the rights to the build for Fight Forever and could legally bring it over to a new developer to build on top of what was already made. Fight Forever ended up going over budget and didn't return a profit so it's unlikely that AEW would want to start all over again though if they went with another partner, a whole new build would also be on the table.
