Kenny Omega Gives Update On The AEW Video Game
AEW World Tag Team Champion Kenny Omega recently spoke with Tim Adams of CBR and gave an update on the first-ever AEW video game.
Omega, who is also an AEW Executive Vice President, noted that the video game is in a very preliminary phase but that they're working as an "incredible pace."
"Oh, absolutely. Right now everything's in a very preliminary phase," Omega said. "I can't talk too much about it, of course, because I really want to have something of material to show people when the time is right. And we're working at such an incredible pace right now. I think maybe we'll have something to show sooner than what people would expect. Not saying anything playable, but at least something to show people."
Regarding the gameplay, Omega said he wants to recapture the fun from the classic WWF WrestleFest, WWF No Mercy, WWF WrestleMania, and Virtual Pro Wrestling video games.
"And for me, I believe there needs to be a sense of being in the ring, that you're controlling your favorite wrestler or controlling your create-a-character," Omega said. "But it's not so much a simulation where the movements are slow. I want to recapture the sort of fun factor that we used to have back in the day, whether it be WWF WrestleFest, WWF No Mercy, WWF WrestleMania 2000, Virtual Pro Wrestling 1 and 2. I want a very simplified system that allows for pick up and playability. However, I want the moves and the structure of the game to be so crisp and the potential for it to be deep, to the point where you can have a match that actually resembles something of a pro wrestling match where the moves look the way they should, the characters move the way they should.
"But at the end of the day, a game needs to be fun. I want a game where I can take my favorite character and do all of his moves and decimate my opponents. But I want to be able to call over a friend that never games and with a very simple explanation, I want him to be able to pick up a controller and be able to feel like he's in control of his movements and his destiny as well. I don't want people to take the literal words from this to assume what the game is going to be like. But one thing I appreciate in a fighting game, like Street Fighter, it's got a very difficult entry barrier to play at a top level. It's almost impossible. You can't be a dude off the street and do it. It takes a lot of practice time and a lot of grinding. You have to be like a math magician on the spot to calculate frames and advantages and all that. When people assume control of their favorite wrestler or their latest creation, I want them to feel like it's not difficult to do the moves they want to do. I want them to feel like they can perform the way they want to perform."