THQ Nordic has had to clarify the status of AEW Fight Forever, after no less than AEW owner Tony Khan made fans excited a little too early.
We had reported just last week how the sports businessman stated that the game is ‘basically ready.’ While he was clearly talking about the state of game development itself, Tony made it sound like everything was already set for the game, and that publisher THQ Nordic only needed to set a release date for it.
As reported by Video Games Chronicle, THQ Nordic Per Hollenbo disputed this statement on Twitter.
This is what Hollenbo, using the Twitter handle Zyddie, said in response:
“I mean if you want an unfinished game sure we could release now
The game is doing really well and is getting there, but not 100% yet, so yea just another rumour on twitter I fear”
Hollenbo made these follow up responses to a fan who expressed disappointment that AEW Fight Foreverwas not yet ready after all:
“Don’t think that is quite the right way to look at it, when a game is feature and core complete all the polish and touches comes, these are the things are massive for gamers like ourselves not to mention how important isn’t it for wrestling fans ?
So look at it like that”
And this is what he said when the fan pointed out that THQ Nordic has been lacking in communication on the game’s development overall:
“Well that I do understand 100% and to a degree agree with.
That being said, we also want to be sure that we show you the best possible version and experience of the game, so tossing out a ton of alpha and beta stuff could ruin the real plans that kicks in with marketing and pr.”
The misunderstanding here definitely stems from Tony’s statements in his interview. But it seems that he made those assertions in error because in spite of his knowledge of the game’s development status, he didn’t fully understand the process of game development itself.
So he probably thought he understood where the game was but didn’t clarify it with developer Yuke’s.
It certainly seemed like Tony wanted to reassure fans after word spread about constant delays, including but not limited to ESRB ratings.
But the game industry has its own mores and language around this process. We will know when THQ Nordic announces that the game has gone gold, that it really will have finished all aspects of development and will be ready to release.
Hopefully, THQ Nordic does put some more work in on keeping fans informed on the status of development.
