Kenny Omega says the AEW Fight Forever console video game is “pretty close to wrapping up.” He’s also addressed the the game’s limited roster and how that will be addressed.
Omega spoke with Justin Barrasso for Sports Illustrated this week to promote Wednesday’s AEW Dynamite from Chicago. This is the go-home show before All Out this Sunday. Omega and the Young Bucks battle Will Ospreay and Aussie Open in the semi-finals of the tournament to crown AEW’s inaugural World Trios Champions.
He also spoke extensively about Fight Forever, including some glaring omissions to the game’s roster of playable characters. Omega says the development team is working diligently to ensure fans are more than satisfied with the final product.
“This game isn’t going to pull any punches,” he said. “It’s going to be physical, sometimes bloody, and we’ve got a very high weapon count for everyone to have fun with. The hijinks outside the ring are a lot of fun, and there’s still Career Mode, too. I hope people have a blast with it.”
Development Near Completion
AEW has yet to announce Fight Forever’s release date, but we know the game is due out some time before the end of the year. According Kenny Omega, AEW Fight Forever is nearly complete.
“We’re coming pretty close to wrapping up. There is still the approval process, and we’re looking to avoid any net play issues so people can play online competitively. We really want to make sure that when people try to log onto the servers, they can do so without incurring any issues.”
AEW’s Ever-Changing Roster
The AEW Fight Forever roster is expected to feature approximately 50 playable characters at launch. Unfortunately, this means a lot of people will not make the cut when the game launches.
AEW is always evolving. That pertains to the craft as pro wrestling, as well as talent roster. As the game was in development, they only left a few slots open for “very special cases” such as CM Punk and Adam Cole.
“Generally speaking, you’re going to see a lot of familiar faces from the early years of AEW, many of whom are still here today. Having that original, year-one roster is important to us. We’re trying to retell that story of how we came into existence.”
– Kenny Omega to Sports Illustrated
Owen Hart and Brodie Lee will be among the special characters who will be playable in the game.
Omega says the development team is committed to post-launch support, which means a lot of the wrestlers who did not make the cut for the launch roster will be available later as downloadable content. He joked that even if John Cena showed up in AEW, it’s too late to include him in the game.
“Now that our game is pretty much wrapped, between now and the release, it will be hard to include anyone new. Even if John Cena walked through the tunnel and down the stage, we probably wouldn’t be able to get him in on time. That is why we’re doing post-launch support.”
It was never the game plan to purposely hold back, but it’s to make sure fans can be a certain wrestler, then they’ll be available as soon as possible.”
– Kenny Omega
Visit SI.com to read their full interview with Kenny Omega.
