Yuke's upcoming professional wrestling console game AEW Fight Forever is coming soon. Here is all of the information we have for the title, including the AEW Fight Forever release date, roster, and other relevant information about the game.
Ever since Yuke's ended their collaboration with 2K Games, WWE 2K has never been the same. Yuke's more arcadey flavor for their older wrestling games clashes with 2K's more simulation-style direction. Hence, Yuke's decided to work with AEW instead, giving wrestling fans hope that they'll get to see Smackdown: Here Comes The Pain's second coming on next-gen consoles. Yes, with the disgraced release of WWE 2K21, wrestling fans have turned their attention away from the WWE 2K franchise and on to the upcoming Yuke's AEW console game – AEW Fight Forever.
With the relative success of WWE 2K23, Yuke's definitely has their work cut out for them. Will AEW Fight Forever be competition for WWE 2K23? Here's everything we know so far about the upcoming game.
Update (3/25/2022): AEW filed a trademark application for “AEW: Fight Forever” on March 21, hinting at a possible name for the upcoming console game. The trademark application describes a “Downloadable game software; Downloadable computer game software; Downloadable electronic game software; Downloadable interactive game software; Video game discs; Downloadable video game programs; Downloadable video game software; Recorded video game programs; Recorded video game software” as well as “Hats; Headwear; Pants; Shirts; Socks; Polo shirts; Sweat shirts; T-shirts,” the second half of which possibly hints at merchandise and potential pre-order merchandise or deluxe edition freebies.
Update (4/13/2022): Fightful Select reports that the game has been planned for a 2022 release all along. Currently, the game's target release date is September 2022, but neither AEW nor Yuke's have confirmed this date or committed to the year 2022 for the release to the public yet.
Update (4/21/2022): Fans in attendance were asked to provide various chants for the game, which was referred to as AEW: Fight Forever, reports NoDQ.com.
Update (5/4/2022): Fightful Select confirms more wrestlers added to the roster, and new video footage released later in the day show two more confirmed playable wrestlers.
Update (8/3/2022): A leaked trailer that were supposed to come out next week during the THQ Nordic showcase showed off newly confirmed roster members Britt Baker, Jade Cargill, and Jon Moxley. New gameplay footage showed that mixed-tag matches would be possible, revealing new weapons like fire extinguishers, and Mario Party-style mini-games.
Update (9/6/2022): Fightful Select reported details about the game's career mode.
Update (5/22/2023): AEW Fight Forever Release Date revealed
AEW Fight Forever Release Date: June 29, 2023
AEW Fight Forever will be coming out on June 29, 2023, on PC through Steam, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and the Xbox Series X.
Career Mode
Just like most other wrestling video games, AEW Fight Forever will be featuring a Career mode. In Yuke's AEW Game, Fightful Select reports that many talents were involved in the game mode with voiceover work, which allegedly includes Orange Cassidy and John Silver. Yuke's apparently is putting a lot of resources into it. MJF even wrote a promo for AEW Fight Forever, Fightful Select reports.
THQ writes about the game mode: “AEW: Fight Forever's deep career mode highlights the fun and personality of an All Elite Wrestler's life on the road. Players can create and develop their own wrestler who joins the AEW roster and appears in matches and stories over an event schedule. Points are earned by winning matches and fulfilling certain objectives which can then be used to enhance their wrestler's stats.”
Later, the career mode was revealed to be called “Road to Elite,” and will have players create their custom character and take them on a journey to become a champion and lay down their own legacy in the company.
Gameplay
The game harkens back to old times, with more arcade action compared to WWE 2K's more simulation-focused gameplay. It's reminiscent of old WWE games like Here Comes The Pain and No Mercy, which should be appealing to many long-time wrestling fans.
The following match types have been confirmed:
- Singles
- Tag Team
- 3-Way
- 4-Way
- Ladder
- Casino Battle Royale
- Falls Count Anywhere
- Unsanctioned Lights-Out
- Exploding Barbed Wire Deathmatches
The following game modes have been confirmed:
- Career Mode
- Online Multiplayer
- Custom Wrestlers
- Custome Movesets
- Custom Entrances
- Custom Teams
- Custom Arenas
Mini-Games
It appears that players will be able to pick wrestlers and partake in Mario Party-style mini-games. It appears that mini-games can help players increase their stats in the game's Road to Elite Story Mode, while it's also possible to just play mini-games right from the main menu. There are going to be 15 mini-games available in the base game. Players who order the Elite Edition of the game will get four additional mini-games as well. The complete list of Mini-games is as follows:
- Steal The Show
- Pit Drop
- Path Tracer
- Who's Missing?
- Spot The Difference
- Memory
- Box Breaker
- Egg Hunt
- Bomb Hurl
- Where's Orange?
- Count ‘Em Up
- AEW Pop Quiz
- JoinUs (FTR: Revival Pack)*
- Deth Race-X (FTR: Revival Pack)*
- MJF Car Crash (Limitless Bunny Bundle)*
- Sloth Sling (Limitless Bunny Bundle)*
*Part of the Elite Edition DLC
AEW Fight Forever Roster
Fightful Select confirmed that AEW Fight Forever currently has about 60 playable wrestlers in its roster, which is roughly half of AEW's actively competing and signed wrestlers in its actual roster. There are a couple of DLC characters already announced as well, and confirmed characters that are unlockable as pre-order bonuses. More characters are expected to arrive in the future as AEW Fight Forever will have season passes, so it's possible that new characters are introduced to the roster through microtransactions or as rewards for the season pass in the future. The confirmed playable wrestlers so far in the AEW Fight Forever roster are:
- Abadon
- Adam Cole
- Adam Page
- Andrade El Idolo
- Anna Jay
- Aubrey Edwards
- Brian Cage
- Brodie Lee
- Bryan Danielson
- Cash Wheeler (DLC)
- Chris Jericho
- Christian Cage
- Chuck Taylor
- CM Punk
- Cody Rhodes
- Danhausen (DLC)
- Darby Allin
- Dax Hardwood (DLC)
- Dr. Britt Baker, D.M.D.
- Dustin Rhodes
- Eddie Kingston
- Hikaru Shida
- Hook (DLC)
- Jade Cargill
- Jeff Hardy
- John Silver
- Jon Moxley
- Jungle Boy
- Keith Lee (DLC)
- Kenny Omega
- Kris Statlander
- Lance Archer
- Luchasaurus
- Malakai Black
- Matt Hardy (Pre-Order Bonus)
- “Broken” Matt Hardy (Per-Order Bonus)
- Matt Jackson
- Miro
- MJF
- Nick Jackson
- Nyla Rose
- Orange Cassidy
- Owen Hart
- PAC
- Paul Wight
- Pentagon
- Powerhouse Hobbs
- Rey Fenix
- Ricky Starks
- Riho
- Ruby Soho
- Sammy Guevara
- Scorpio Sky
- Sting
- Tay Melo
- The Bunny (DLC)
- Thunder Rosa
- Trent
- Wardlow
- Yuka Sakazaki
Cash Wheeler, Danhausen, Dax Hardwood, Hook, Keith Lee, and The Bunny are part of the games Season 1 Pass, which players could get as a separate DLC purchase or as part of the Elite Edition of AEW Fight Forever.
About Yuke's: pro wrestling legends of their own right
Yuke's and wrestling video games come a long way back. This makes fans feel very hopeful about the new AEW console game. Many believe that the disastrous WWE 2K franchise wasn't exactly Yuke's fault, so with Yuke's going solo, things should start looking up. Just some of the games that Yuke's developed include Wrestle Kingdom, WWE Smackdown! vs. Raw, as well as some video games for New Japan Pro Wrestling from the late 90s. Fans consider the PSOne and PS2 era of games to be Yuke's golden age of pro wrestling goodness.
Apart from wrestling games, Yuke's also have an array of UFC games under their belt, having developed the THQ-published UFC 2009 Undisputed, UFC Undisputed 2010, and UFC Undisputed 3. While about 75% of all their games are wrestling related, they also have a couple of non-wrestling games, such as the Berserk game that everyone thinks KOEI made, as well as the ridiculously fun over-the-top Earth Defense Force games.
Kenny Omega has been reportedly working on the development of the game, and THQ Nordic is also said to be helping out in the development of the game in a support role.
According to Fightful Select, multiple members of the Yuke's team that worked on the SmackDown vs. Raw video games from the PS2 era are part of the team working on the AEW: Fight Forever.
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