Video games generally take a healthy length of time to develop, and projects are certain to run into some hiccups. The case with All Elite Wrestling's first foray into video games, Fight Forever, has apparently been some issues with publisher THQ Nordic and the development staff confirming its ESRB rating, one of the main reasons why it's been held back for so long. THQ wanted a "T" for Teen rating, resulting in much of the game's content, which was too violent to meet that requirement, had to be scaled back.

AEW wrestler and fighting game enthusiast Kenny Omega recently spoke on the Swerve City Podcast (hosted by AEW performer Swerve Strickland) about how the hold-up on the rating impedes Fight Forever's capacity to remain fresh with the modern product.

“It does suck because the rating has held us back a little bit because we really wanted to get it out", Omega states. "The longer the time goes by, this finished product that we have of a game is just gonna be a little dated, right? Sure, a lot of the same people are going to be there, but some aren’t, and you’re going to wonder why ‘I’ve seen this guy on TV for weeks, why isn’t he in the game?’ It’s because the game has been done, but we’ve had to try to get our game in a position to be rated so that we can sell it. So now, I can positively say that we’re headed back in the right direction.”

Some of that addresses the repackaging of Fight Forever, which heavily featured CM Punk on the cover art in the midst of its production. Prior to the fallout of a backstage brawl during a media scrum at AEW's 2022 Pay Per View, All Out, leaving Punk's status with the company remains largely unknown. His likeness is still being used in the game and he's still under contract, but marketing Fight Forever around his presence has been completely omitted.  

Coming to the PlayStation 5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Windows, AEW Fight Forever, as of this writing, still has no confirmed release date.