AEW Fight Forever release date is reportedly in limbo due to ESRB rating issues

AEW Fight Forever’s release date is reportedly in limbo due to issues with the ESRB.

It’s claimed that the upcoming All Elite Wrestling game no longer has a firm release date, due to the game failing to acquire the ESRB rating that AEW and publisher THQ Nordic had hoped for.

According to Wrestle Zone, citing sources close to the situation, it’s said the amount of blood and gore in the game prevented it from achieving a Teen rating on multiple attempts.

While it’s unclear which issues the ESRB has issues with, it should be noted that AEW often presents wrestling matches featuring significantly more blood and heightened violence than its rival WWE.

It’s possible that the virtual representation of this content has caused the game to fail to achieve the desired rating.

AEW Fight Forever’s release date has been a constant unknown. In June last year, AEW star Kenny Omega said he hoped the game was on schedule to release in 2022. When this was clearly no longer possible, the game was then set for release in February 2023.

According to Wrestle Zone, that February window now seems unlikely and with WWE 2K23 planned for March, AEW fans may be in for a longer wait for the company’s debut game.

The debut video game for the upstart rival to WWE is being developed by Yuke’s, the Japanese studio previously responsible for the WWE Smackdown / WWE 2K series from 2000 to 2018.

Yuke’s confirmed last year that it was working on a new “best in class” console game for AEW. During the game’s announcement, it was revealed that genre luminary Hideyuki Iwashita, the director of classic fighting games WWF No Mercy and Def Jam Vendetta, would also be involved in the AEW title.

Further reading

AEW: Fight Forever screens appear online featuring CM Punk, Kenny Omega and more

This will mark CM Punk's first wrestling game since WWE 2K15

Iwashita’s influence can be seen in most of the gameplay footage shown to date, which looks more like a modern version of WWF No Mercy rather than recent Yuke’s WWE games.

It was also confirmed last year that the late Owen Hart, who died in an accident at a WWF show in 1999, will make a posthumous appearance as a playable wrestler in the AEW game, as part of a partnership with the non-profit charity the Owen Hart Foundation.

VGC has reached out to THQ Nordic and will update this story should we receive a response.