With the wrestling promotion teasing fans for several months now, frequent watchers of AEW have been waiting for the brand's official video game to be formally announced. Stars like Kenny Omega and Cody Rhodes have been alluding to the title for months now, and thanks to a recent live stream on the company's YouTube channel, the time has finally come to see what the promotion has been cooking up.
As it turns out, AEW has a whopping three games in the works, two of which being general manager and online casino-focused mobile games. The main event of the stream, however, was the promotion's official wrestling game, which will be helmed by former WWE 2K developer Yuke's and is coming to both current and next-generation consoles.
Receiving a short trailer, it seems rumors that the title will pursue a more fun-focused style in comparison to the relatively simulative WWE 2K games seem accurate. Showcasing a match between Kenny Omega and Chris Jericho, the characters' avatars are noticeably cartoonish, while the moves they execute are equally larger than life.
The promo concludes with AEW Women's Champion Hikaru Shida (rather fittingly wearing her Tifa-inspired ring attire) entering the match and hitting a falcon arrow on Omega. The stream concluded with another bombshell surrounding the game, revealing that Hideyuki Iwashita - the creative director of legendary wrestling game WWF No Mercy - will be collaborating with AEW and Yuke's on the project. Seen as the classic game is heralded as one of the most revered wrestling titles ever made, the partnership is sure to excite long-time fans.
Following the announcement, the stream went on to reveal AEW Elite General Manager: a GM-mode focused mobile experience slated to release next year. The game will transform the coveted General Manager Mode made famous by the Smackdown vs Raw series into a fully-fledged portable game, allowing users to manage wrestlers, book matches, and study ratings as they deliver their own personalized AEW shows. During the showcase, the game received a short teaser trailer highlighting the core concept and how it will play.
Finally, AEW Casino: Double or Nothing was announced, transforming the promotion's annual pay per view of the same name into an online casino game. Not much is revealed about the title other than the fact that it'll be coming with a release window of this winter. All in all, it seems AEW has a lot of video game tie-ins in the works, leaving video game wrestling fans with some big projects to dwell on and WWE 2K with some steep competition to overcome.
The AEW video game is currently in development for current and next-generation consoles.