WWE 2K22 has come out to a generally favourable reception.
OK now I have gotten past mentioning the bigger North American wrestling companies' latest video game release, shall we talk about the alternative?
Last year I wrote a piece to show that the newest wrestling big promotion AEW was about to release three games and each would target a separate genre, those being gambling and a manager simulation.
Since that article way back in the halcyon days of June, details on the development of this game … well, unlike the amount of absolute classic matches produced by AEW since then, they have been very notable for their scarcity.
That is until now. According to well-heeled Sean Ross Sapp of Fightful Select, some further details have emerged. Warning: it, unfortunately, does not include the release date or the game modes. Or the final roster, judging by the rate at which AEW sign new wrestlers, WWE 2K22 will not be the only wrestling simulation game this year with an outdated roster.
Although I personally do not think there is any real chance that C M Punk or Brian Danielson will fail to make the cut for the game.
Confirmed now is what we already knew that Yukes are developing, so no great surprise. But also that we shall get a story mode and for clarities’ sake, while we knew Yukes are behind the development wheel, they are specifically using the Yukes staff most directly responsible for the well-received Smackdown vs. Raw series.
A publisher has not been announced, personally, I do not think this will be a particular problem for any company directly owned by Tony Khan. If he could get Phil Brooks back to wrestling and doing so exclusively for him, he can get a must-play video game out in time.
A final thought. All Elite Wrestling music producer Mike Rukus has stated that the soft deadline for the music included in story mode has passed as of the recent AEW Revolution (an event so good, I happily watched the entire midnight to 5 am show in one go. Then once Gimme A Hull Yeah coverage was over at around 6, I fell asleep in around 30 seconds). My theory is if they are doing this, the game is very much near the end stage of any game’s development before the lengthy polishing process starts - then I think that the eventual release is not far away.
At a guess, I would say we shall learn the release date (which by sheer coincidence will be a day I take off work and am about £60 lighter) at the next AEW pay per view, Double Or Nothing on May 29th 2022.
Maybe that will be the actual release date! In which case, I will be both £60 lighter and whatever that pay per view costs. Usually, about £18 and they are much more than worth it by the time the first match ends.
Whatever the case, I am positively salivating over every detail which emerges and it seems they will do so very slowly, but judging by Yukes and AEW’s past output, it will be nothing but the best there is, the best there was and the best there ever will be.
Well, that’s a bit of high pressure I’m putting on them there. Tony Khan, my bad. Still, I have faith.
It’s time for speculation time with Jack BAY BAY! With Tony Khan recently smashing his piggy bank to acquire Ring of Honor Wrestling, while I can in no way guarantee such, I would bet a whopping 50 pence that with the elongated development time, it is pretty safe to say that Cult favourite promotion ROH will be included in the game in some manner.
Breaking addendum:
It was bound to happen one day. I took a good bit writing this article, finally got it to a good level, sent it to our Glorious Leader Cally then a strong hint at a name-dropped. As of March 21st 2022, a possible name for the title has emerged. AEW has filed a trademark for ‘AEW: Fight Forever’ for video game use.
Of course, it could be for something else, but I’d bet my WrestleMania week show tickets it is only for this game and if it gets DLC or sequels, those too.
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