For many decades, professional wrestling has been popular in the UK. Big Daddy and Giant Haystacks now battle it out in the big ring in the sky. We have slightly more athletic wrestlers to follow nowadays, and WWE video games and WWE-themed slots at some of the top casino sites have been big hits. Now it’s nearly time for All Elite Wrestling (AEW) to get in on the act.
AEW: Fight Forever is due out soon, and we’ll find out more about the game in the coming weeks. Casino game developers like NetEnt and Microgaming may also produce similar titles for the gaming market after the release – as they always do. The action from shows such as Dynamite and Rampage are shown on ITV2. British interest includes Pac and the veteran (and totally brilliant) William Regal, who leads the Blackpool Combat Club.
They also have top wrestlers such as Brian Danielson, Jon Moxley, CM Punk, Britt Baker, Jade Cargill, and Chris Jericho. Challenging WWE as the top wrestling company in the US is not an easy task for them. Can they be successful in the video game market, and what will UK players think of their new product?
It seems a bit overdue for AEW to be releasing a video game. The same goes for them doing a UK tour. Combining that with a video game release might have been a good idea, probably next year.
THQ Nordic is publishing the game, and the original THQ company is no stranger to professional wrestling games, having previously published WWE games. Publishing a game that has a fan base already in place can help produce successful products.
A trailer for the AEW game has been released ahead of an official release on August 12. Anyone who has seen AEW knows it’s not like the old World of Sports action. They love whacking each other over the head with dustbins, and their baseball bats are rarely used for that sport. Steel chairs, fire extinguishers, and barbed wire can often be seen in AEW matches.
All those weapons and more will be part of the new video game. At least you can’t get hurt playing this, unlike the real wrestlers. Don’t even think professional wrestling is all fake; their current injury list proves that isn’t the case.
Releasing a video game is a big step forward for AEW. There’s been talk about a game being released for a while now. If the company wants to expand further, they need to look at other areas aside from just putting on weekly shows on television and YouTube.
It’s a great way for the company to take their business to a new audience. Video gamers in the UK and beyond might not have heard a great deal about AEW. If a new game suddenly appears, they may well give it a go and become fans of the in-ring product.
There is a lot of secrecy regarding the game. Apparently, there was no knowledge in AEW regarding what the cover would look like. Nor did the wrestlers featured know that they would be on it. That sounds strange, but game developer Yuke and publisher THQ Nordic were responsible for the cover art rather than the wrestling company.
We do know that there will be several mini-games to play. Fans of Orange Cassidy will look forward to the one built around him. This game will be “much different than anything before it.” That’s probably been claimed a few times in the past, though.
When it finally gets released, there will be a wide range of matches to choose from. Word is there’s everything from an Exploding Barbed Wire Death Match to 3 and 4-way ladder matches, tag team battles, and a Casino Battle Royale reported BritishGambler.co.uk
The full list of wrestlers featured in the game hasn’t been confirmed either. Professional wrestling sees a lot of movement between the various companies. Keith Lee and Athena have recently switched from WWE to AEW but might have joined too late to be featured in the upcoming video game.
When will it be released? Amazon has mentioned the very end of this year, so it might not even be a Christmas present.
UK video game players have already seen WWE 2K22 released this year. September is going to be a big month for them, with the ‘Clash at the Castle’ show being held at the Millennium Stadium in Cardiff (rather than the castle itself) on September 3. That’s going to give WWE a sackload of publicity and confirm them as still one of the top wrestling companies in the world even without Vince McMahon
AEW sure has a lot of catching to do. Will this game help them? It will be available to play on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X and S, Xbox One, Switch, and PC via Steam.
