Financial Hit AEW Took On Fight Forever Explains Why There’s No Sequel

AEW’s first proper video game, Fight Forever, promised so much. Claims that it would be a spiritual successor to WWF No Mercy ahead of its launch, the game far from lived up to that unreasonable hype. Three years later, there has been no indication that AEW plans on releasing video games at a more regular pace, and the money it lost developing Fight Forever might explain why.

Fight Forever Lost AEW $30 Million

The latest on why it has effectively been three years of radio silence on the AEW video game front comes from Insider Gaming’s Mike Straw. Straw is the same source that revealed what wound up being accurate details about WWE 2K26 before those details were officially announced. According to Straw’s sources, AEW lost $30 million on Fight Forever.

The leading cause of the deficit was Fight Forever’s development time. Developer Yuke’s was aiming for a 2022 release, but the game didn’t end up hitting store shelves until 2023. It had been in development for a long time by that stage, as some in AEW, including Kenny Omega, were talking about the potential of a video game before the promotion was even a year old.

Exact sales figures for Fight Forever aren’t clear; however, this latest report claims the game sold roughly half of what AEW and Yuke’s were expecting it to. It’s difficult to know what exactly to blame for that. One takeaway is that there simply wasn’t enough demand for an AEW video game. Another is that after its release, the middling reviews it received meant those who might have picked up a copy had they heard good things ultimately changed their minds.

Fight Forever Was Just Fine

I reviewed Fight Forever for TheSportster, awarding the game a 3/5, which really aligns with what most people thought about the game. It was fine, but nothing more than that when expectations were so high. The game really didn’t run that deep, either. Its campaign was, while repeatable, incredibly bare-bones, and there wasn’t much to keep you playing. Not great for a sports-based game, especially if you don’t plan on releasing a new installment every year like WWE.

As of now, there are reportedly no plans for AEW to release another game. Unlike WWE and 2K, there is no deal in place that demands the promotion work with Yuke’s on a follow-up. AEW also owns the engine in which Fight Forever was built. That means, if it ultimately decides it does want to have another crack at it, it can take that engine to a different studio in the hopes it will make something more impressive with it.