This past week All Elite Wrestling showed off the most substantial footage yet of its upcoming video game AEW Fight Forever as part of Gamescom in Germany. A live match played by AEW wrestler Colt Cabana was shared, with Colt playing Kenny Omega and the AI playing Adam Cole. While it was clear AEW Fight Forever is still in development and in need of polish, the response to the arcade throwback wrestling game has been positive. There has since been a curious issue called attention to, however, as AEW Fight Forever's animations were compared to WWE 2K22.
A video made by YouTube channel EspacioNX cut together footage of AEW Fight Forever's Kenny Omega vs. Adam Cole match with footage of WWE 2K22. Obviously, WWE 2K22 doesn't feature Kenny Omega or Adam Cole since they're AEW wrestlers, but they can be added to the game via mods layered on top of custom characters. In other words, the animations are still part of WWE 2K22. What the comparison video shows is that the animations between the two games are strikingly similar, if not outright identical.
The first comparison in the video is perhaps the best at showcasing the issue. In the clip, Adam Cole performs a back body drop on a running Kenny Omega, lifting Omega into the air and allowing him to fall. In the falling animation, Kenny's arms flail, and then after landing Kenny grasps his back in pain. The two animations are near 1:1. There's a valid point to make about wrestling moves between games looking similar by nature, but the specific details of the move's animation seem too similar to be coincidence.
Similar comparisons are then made for additional moves from Kenny Omega and Adam Cole, including a suplex, a side suplex, a dropkick in the corner, a springboard, a jumping elbow, a superkick, an elbow lariat, and a kneecap brainbuster. They're all vividly similar in detail, though it's difficult to say whether they're actually the same animation.
Where this gets complicated is that Yuke's is both the developer of AEW Fight Forever and the ex-developer of WWE 2K games. It's entirely possible that Yuke's is using the same animations, or that it may have even created the animations, used in WWE 2K22. If it is, then there's likely a lot of legal complexity involved with whether those animations are Yuke's or 2K's property, or able to be shared between the two.
Two questions need to be answered stemming from this strange situation. First, are the animations in AEW Fight Forever genuinely the same animations in WWE 2K22, and perhaps other WWE 2K games? Second, if the first question's answer is yes, then who has the rights to those animations? However, barring any legal issues, if the animations look sharp, wrestling fans will likely be content regardless.
AEW Fight Forever is tentatively planned for release in 2022 on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.