AEW may part ways with Yukes after Fight Forever's dismal failure
By Brian Allen
Insider Gaming is reporting that All Elite Wrestling and developer Yukes may be a one and done partnership. AEW Fight Forever released in June 2023 to much fanfare but mixed reviews. While it tried to summon the arcade spirit of WWF No Mercy, it lacked many of the essential features of a modern wrestling game, such as in-game commentary.
In so many ways, Fight Forever feels like both a missed opportunity and an unfinished product. For its part, Yukes told Insider Gaming it was pressured to release the game before it was ready. There are always multiple sides to these arguments, but I'd certainly agree this game was not ready to be released.
Making matters worse, the WWE series is better than ever. WWE 2K24 currently holds a Metacritic rating of 81. The Wrestlemania Showcase and the roster except for one pack of DLC, has earned nothing but praise from longtime fans.
That said, I don't know who AEW would get. Between Yukes and Visual Concepts, you're looking at the developers who have created the most successful wrestling games for decades. EA's UFC games would probably make them the leading candidate, but working with EA provides its own set of issues.
Fight Forever was one of the few sports games in recent memory to not have some sort of Ultimate Team mode. WWE 2K has a MyFACTION mode and EA would surely want to follow suit, whether AEW's fans want that or not.
In the same way that AEW is likely years away from providing real competition for WWE, it could be years before any game series based on it is up to par with what 2K is doing.