AEW Fight Forever may have been a much bigger financial hit than anyone realized, and that could explain why Tony Khan hasn’t rushed into making another video game.
Insider Gaming executive editor Mike Straw revealed that sources told him AEW took a “massive loss” of at least $30 million on Fight Forever after development dragged on longer than planned and the game failed to hit its sales targets.
Fight Forever was originally expected to arrive in 2022, but multiple delays pushed the release all the way to June 2023 around AEW x NJPW Forbidden Door. According to Straw, all that extra development time came with a price.
“When games take that long, they take more to make.”
That wasn’t the only problem. Straw said Fight Forever ultimately sold around half of what AEW initially expected, leaving the company with a huge gap between what it spent developing the game and what it brought back in.
That puts a very different spin on all the questions Tony Khan has received about a Fight Forever sequel. Khan has repeatedly left the door open for AEW to do more in the gaming world, but there hasn’t been another full-scale console game announced since Fight Forever.
There’s also another issue standing in the way. AEW currently does not have an agreement with Yuke’s, the developer behind Fight Forever. However, AEW owns the game engine, which would give the company the option of taking that technology elsewhere and working with another studio.
Straw said AEW is still interested in revisiting video games somewhere down the road, but there doesn’t appear to be anything locked in right now. He also addressed rumors that AEW had been speaking with a third party about licensing its wrestling game rights. When Straw asked his sources about those claims, the response was pretty clear.
“They didn’t f*cking know anything about it.”
Fight Forever was supposed to establish AEW as a legitimate player in wrestling video games, but losing at least $30 million while selling only half of the expected copies would make anybody think twice before writing another massive check. AEW may eventually get back into the console game business, but after Fight Forever, there’s an obvious reason why the company might be taking its time.
Do you think AEW should try another wrestling video game with a different developer, or should Tony Khan stay away from another expensive console project for now? Let us know what you think in the comments.
