AEW Has Made a Massive Investment into AEW Games Division

Forbes released a new in-depth feature on Tony Khan and the rise of All Elite Wrestling on [...]

By Connor Casey

Forbes released a new in-depth feature on Tony Khan and the rise of All Elite Wrestling on Tuesday, which included some key financial details about the growing promotion. The article mentioned that AEW generated $43.75 million from its deals with TNT, then mentioned that the company had made an eight-figure investment into its video game department, AEW Games.

"Khan expects its wrestling division to be profitable this year, though an eight-figure investment in video game development will keep the company in the red for now," the article read.

The division was first confirmed in late 2020 with a mobile gambling game AEW Casino (released back in February), a general manager simulator AEW Elite GM (still in beta testing) and an unnamed AEW console game developed by Yuke's and Hideyuki "Geta" Iwashita, the director of the classic WWF No Mercy game on the Nintendo 64. That game is reportedly aiming for a 2022 release.

Kenny Omega explained in a 2020 interview with ComicBook what modern wrestling games are missing compared to the classics of the late 90s/early 2000s.

"For me it's a feeling of actually performing a match," he said. "It's a feeling of impact with each maneuver. I also feel that, a big thing with No Mercy was that when you did a maneuver by a particular wrestler, the way it was performed and the way it the opponent received the move looked perfect in every single animation. That's because the artists back then, they weren't using green screens, they weren't using MoCap they were actually manipulating joints frame by frame by frame by frame while watching tape of said performer doing that maneuver to an actual opponent.

"There's a big difference," he added. "I know there's a lot of good athletes out there and I'm sure that there are a lot of people that do and can do a V-Trigger, but if it doesn't quite look like the way I do mine the way that I did the Kotaro Crusher, when I do the One-Winged Angel it shows. Even if it's similar, it still doesn't feel the same. It doesn't feel right. I think that is what's missing in games, you just don't actually feel like you are the superstar, that you've chosen to control."

AEW is scheduled to have its latest gaming up via a new episode of the 2.Show series on YouTube this Thursday.

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