Wrestling Game Developers Speak Out After AEW President Says Project Is "Basically Finished"

AEW is well-known by wrestling fans as the number-two promotion in North America, but the company's upcoming video game, AEW Fight Forever, has been the source of considerable confusion in recent years. It flared up again recently when AEW's president and booker Tony Khan said that the video game was finished--a claim that was seemingly contradicted by its publisher.

Khan offered the statement at a press conference that followed AEW's latest pay-per-view event, Revolution. However, when fans asked developers for comment, THQ Nordic community manager Per Hollenbo offered a different take, calling the game "unfinished" and "not 100% yet." In another tweet, he explained that Khan's definition of a "finished game" is different from that of a developer, and that Khan did not "lie in any shape or form."

In a statement to Kotaku, Hollenbo listed several milestones that AEW Fight Forever must meet before it hits store shelves, including passing QA tests and becoming "polished." The game was first announced in November 2020 and has been heavily promoted in the intervening years on AEW social media channels. The game does not currently have an announced release date.

Often described as an alternative to its major competitor WWE, AEW has experienced a number of recent controversies that have affected Fight Forever in both major and minor ways. For example, the original cover athlete of the game, CM Punk, was ousted from the company in late 2022 following an unscripted backstage brawl between himself and a number of other performers, including former champion Kenny Omega. Currently, the cover athlete of the game is slated to be AEW's world champion MJF.