Yuke's Denies WWE Rivalry Even Though It's Now Making an AEW Video Game
For wrestling fans, Yuke's is one of the most iconic game developers ever. The Japanese studio has been making wrestling games since 1995, working with major wrestling promotions including New Japan Pro-WRestling, Shin Nippon Pro Wrestling, and WWF/WWE, as well as the mixed martial arts promotion UFC more recently. Now, this past week, Yuke's confirmed it was now working with All Elite Wrestling, leading some to question whether there's contentious feelings or a rivalry with the WWE.
The key issue is that following the bankruptcy of publisher THQ, Yuke's has worked exclusively with 2K Sports developing WWE games. To say the relationship that Yuke's had with 2K went sour would be a gross understatement. 2K publically stated frustrations with Yuke's, made Yuke's work with an internal 2K team, and then ended its relationship with Yuke's to let the 2K team take over WWE 2K development. The situation had to be terribly challenging for Yuke's prior to its eventual partnership with AEW.
Yet Yuke's doesn't see any sort of rivalry with the WWE. Yuke's SVP and Producer Hiromi Furuta recently explained to VideoGamesChronicle that they "still love the WWE and respect its talent." Rather than see working with AEW as being part of a rivalry, Furuta says, "My goal is simply to create high-quality pro-wrestling games that are loved by the community." Its partnership with AEW is simply a new opportunity to create a new product.
Details regarding the new Yuke's game with AEW are scant, but it's been said several times now that it's expected to be a major project. In other words, it's going to be of a similar scale to 2K's WWE games. Yuke's may or may not see it as a rivalry, but wrestling fans are definitely going to view it as such. And that's at least partly driven by disappointment in the most recent iterations of the WWE 2K franchise and nostalgia for classic Yuke's wrestling games.
Some additional insight into the AEW game's development was also provided by Furuta. She's able to confirm that Yuke's previously announced original game has become AEW's game. Yuke's isn't developing a different original project alongside AEW's game. This likely means that the AEW game is further along in development than the announcement would otherwise imply.
Rivalry or not, there's absolutely a lot of excitement for AEW's new game. It's bringing back Hideyuki Iwashita, director of WWF No Mercy and Def Jam: Fight for New York. It aspires to a classic style of gameplay that's been modernized for speed and accessibility. In other words, it sounds a lot like exactly what fans have been asking for.
Yuke's AEW game is currently in development.
Source: VideoGamesChronicle
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