Yesterday, AEW revealed that they are working with Yuke’s to develop a console video game for both current and next-gen systems. Yuke’s is of course the developer of the WWE SmackDown series which later morphed into the current WWE 2K series. In May of last year, Yuke’s revealed to Video Games Chronicle that they would be working on a new IP and had a game engine ready to go.
“I think having no competitor isn’t healthy at all. When we had competitors in the wrestling space, we were determined not to lose and that was a great motivator for creating something great.
“But right now, looking at the market demands, players are expecting something new every time we release a game and we feel like we haven’t achieved what we’ve really wanted to do. For example, in many cases, we’re still using old assets and we’re not able to do some things in the way that we want to.
“We are trying to launch a new wrestling game. Of course, we will retain the WWE team, but we are also aware that our creators are beginning to lose sight of their passion and confidence and becoming focused only on completing assigned tasks. That’s not the direction Yuke’s wants to go in. So, in order to compensate, we’re going to start a new wrestling project.”
Bryan Williams, a developer behind many SmackDown games took to Twitter yesterday to reveal how his work on the AEW project began, crediting current AEW star Trent for opening the door.
I've been working toward this day since February of 2019. Hopefully now, all of my past tweets can be put into there proper context. Big shout out to the homie @trentylocks. This wouldn't have happened without him. Trent put me in contact with AEW which brought us to today.
— Bryan Williams (@TruBWill) November 11, 2020
Five months before I reached out to AEW, I had an interview with the WWE for a games producer role in Stamford. This was in September of 2018. They interviewed me 3 times and then ghosted me. In Feburary 2019, I emailed AEW and here we are today. Things happen for a reason ??
— Bryan Williams (@TruBWill) November 11, 2020
As of now, there is no concrete release date for the console video game. WrestleZone will continue to monitor the story and report any and all updates.
