Kenny Omega Gives Latest Update on AEW's First Video Game

There hasn't been much information about AEW's first official video game since it was first teased last year, but executive vice president and video game lover Kenny Omega already has high hopes for the finished product. In a new interview with CBR, Omega discussed what he's looking for out of the gaming, confirming previous rumors that it will have the same feel and simplicity of classic wrestling games like WWF No Mercy.

"Right now everything's in a very preliminary phase," Omega said. "can't talk too much about it, of course, because I really want to have something of material to show people when the time is right. And we're working at such an incredible pace right now. I think maybe we'll have something to show sooner than what people would expect. Not saying anything playable, but at least something to show people.

"And for me, I believe there needs to be a sense of being in the ring, that you're controlling your favorite wrestler or controlling your create-a-character," he continued. "But it's not so much a simulation where the movements are slow. I want to recapture the sort of fun factor that we used to have back in the day, whether it be WWF WrestleFest, WWF No Mercy, WWF WrestleMania 2000, Virtual Pro Wrestling 1 and 2. I want a very simplified system that allows for pick up and playability. However, I want the moves and the structure of the game to be so crisp and the potential for it to be deep, to the point where you can have a match that actually resembles something of a pro wrestling match where the moves look the way they should, the characters move the way they should.

He concluded — "But at the end of the day, a game needs to be fun. I want a game where I can take my favorite character and do all of his moves and decimate my opponents. But I want to be able to call over a friend that never games and with a very simple explanation, I want him to be able to pick up a controller and be able to feel like he's in control of his movements and his destiny as well."

Back in February Omega explained in an interview with ComicBook what modern wrestling games like the WWE 2K series are missing compared to the classics.

"For me it's a feeling of actually performing a match," Omega 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."