Thanks to the arrival of AEW on New Year's Day 2019, professional wrestling has a legitimate number two for the first time since WCW folded in 2001. Yes, Impact Wrestling was once right up there, New Japan is ever-present, and at some points Ring Of Honor was even making a lot of noise. None has been as influential as AEW has been thus far though, especially in North America and other countries outside of Japan. It has instantly recognizable wrestlers, a massive TV deal, and eventually, it will even have its very own video game.
AEW didn't wait around when it came to revealing that it was hard at work on a video game. The promotion unveiled its gaming division at the tail end of 2020 before it had even turned two. Since then it has launched two mobile games. A casino-based title, and Elite GM which allows players to assume the role of Tony Khan. Truth be told, neither is much to shout about. Both are free-to-play though, and nothing much was really expected of them.
AEW's first console game is different, and everyone involved with its creation knows that. That's why despite having learned of it well over a year ago, we still haven't seen much of it or heard much about it. There have been snippets of information revealed and even early footage shown since it was first announced though, and when pieced together, we can start to get a feel of what this game is going to be when it eventually arrives. Below you will find everything we know so far about the AEW game.
When Will It Be Here And How Can We Play It?
The short answer when it comes to a release date for the AEW game is it doesn't have one. There was a belief back along that it might launch around the same time as WWE 2K22. That isn't going to happen, of course, and by the time you read this, 2K22 will have likely already arrived. Omega has continued to hint that it might well be here at some time in 2022, but even that seems unlikely at this point. 2023 seems like a realistic launch window. We certainly don't want it to be rushed.
Even though it might not be here for another year or more, Omega has assured owners of last-gen consoles that AEW's first game will be available on PS4 and Xbox One. It will also launch on PS5 and Xbox Series X|S, but there has been no mention of Nintendo Switch and PC versions being created just yet. Omega has confirmed it will support cross-platform though, which means you will be able to play with friends on Xbox even if you're playing the game on PlayStation.
Who's On The Roster And How Does It Play?
To a lot of people's surprise, the initial announcement of the game came with its very first trailer. In hindsight, that might have been a mistake. It gave the impression that development was well underway when more than a year later, and still no release date in sight, that clearly wasn't the case. The first three wrestlers shown off were Kenny Omega, Chris Jericho, and Hikaru Shida. Models for Darby Allin and Jungle Boy have been shown off since then. All five wrestlers are still with AEW which means the team behind it doesn't currently have the same issue as WWE 2K which is launching a game filled with non-WWE wrestlers.
It does have a constantly-changing roster problem, though. AEW will want the game's roster to be as up-to-date as possible. Since AEW continues to sign wrestlers at a pretty rapid rate, that gives the team more work to do as they are tasked with making new character models on a very regular basis. DLC or perhaps even a live service model where the roster is altered in real-time might be the answer to that, but there has been no official word as of yet if that's how the situation will be handled.
Speaking of the team behind the game, wrestling veterans Yuke's is the studio working on the game. Yuke's worked on every single WWE game from the very first SmackDown on PS1 all the way up to it parting ways with 2K following WWE 2K19. Yes, it got out right before WWE 2K20, which might well explain all the issues with that game. Omega has explained inspiration for the game has been pulled from WWF No Mercy, perhaps the best-loved wrestling game of all time. Its gameplay will need to be that good as Omega has also honestly admitted the AEW game's visuals won't be able to compete with what WWE 2K22 has to offer.
Modes And Matches
Nothing much has been revealed in regard to what exactly we will be able to do in the game. An early trailer showed Shida wrestling Omega, which presumably means intergender matches will be a part of the game. Singles and tag matches have also been confirmed, but gimmick matches AEW has had fun with such as Stadium Stampede and Blood & Guts haven't made a showing in-game yet. Hopefully they will be included. As for modes, Omega has relayed that there will be a create-a-wrestler option, but no mention of anything else like GM or story modes thus far.