Post by wakigatame on Mar 23, 2020 17:49:47 GMT
From three days ago on Facebook:
For anyone who can't see the above post for whatever reason:
In the replies he also claims the AKI engine exists but EA has control over it (which isn't true). Guess you gotta resort to shit like this when you don't have an actual game to release after 18 years.
Also, let's pretend the podcast exists and sees the light of day...the interview's gotta be with Sanders Keel, right?
For anyone who can't see the above post for whatever reason:
BREAKING AKI NEWS!
Yesterday I may have recorded one of the most important podcasts in wrestling game history. No exaggeration.
18 years ago the once seemingly invincible publisher, THQ, announced they were firing AKI, the development company that gifted them with arguably the best and most popular wrestling games of the time. No one would say why. No one was allowed to. THQ muzzled their staff and subsequently delivered the shallow disappointment that was WrestleMania X8 to Gamecube. Gamers were crushed. It was the beginning of the end and just ten years later THQ declared bankruptcy and began selling assets before closing for good. Why would THQ management mysteriously decide to fix something that wasn't broken? What happened between THQ execs and AKI management that made such an obviously fatal decision even an option in the first place?
Thought I’d never know.
But by the end of the podcast recording yesterday...holy shit, guys, now I know. And I heard a ton more than I ever thought I would. For example, I learned exactly how THQ suits treated the people they knowingly and falsely threw under the bus for the AKI/WMX8 fiasco fallout. And while it would have been an epic scoop to interview someone who had worked at THQ or AKI and been anywhere in the building during that clusterfuck and commotion, I am ricockulously lucky to have scored something even better for you guys:
...I just interviewed someone who was IN THE FUCKIN’ ROOM AND AT THE TABLE!
This person initially worked hard to convince clueless THQ execs that AKI was the best developer to make wrestling games even though they were Japanese which was NOT a point in their favor back then. He was on the front lines with THQ and AKI as their infamous WCW games evolved and rose in popularity. He eagerly worked to manage the mountain of license demands by WWF/WWE during the WM2000 and No Mercy period and tirelessly ran interference to protect AKI’s design and development freedom from industry dumbasses. This person was instrumental in getting those games successfully released so they could set the bar for wrestling games that remains virtually unchallenged to this day.
He experienced first hand the glory days of wrestling games and deserves a good deal of credit for them even existing at all.
And then it all went in the shitter.
He lived the behind the scenes tension and drama of AKI’s final days with THQ and became increasingly frustrated as execs pompously ignored warnings about the shit show they were about to create by letting AKI go. he had a front row seat to THQ’s ethically questionable decision to promote the now Yukes-developed WWE games with the infamously shady talking point, ”Developed with key members from the AKI team.”
We all know how it ended. But until now we thought we’d never get The Dirt (heh). Partly because this person felt so justifiably betrayed, screwed, and mistreated that he left wrestling game development behind completely shortly after, swore he’d never return, and has been turning down interview requests for years.
It might only be a big deal to us wrestling gamers, but the epic gravity of the moment was not lost on me when this person reached out to me a while back…
“Hi Dave. I think I’m ready to talk about what happened. Let’s do this interview.”
And so we did.
Rest assured I’ll be posting the hell out of this as soon as it’s ready. Stay tuned...
In the meantime and in between time, that's it, another edition of Wrestling Gamers United.
Thank you for your support,
Dave Wishnowski
PWX on Facebook!
www.facebook.com/ProWrestlingX
Follow Official PWX on Twitter!
twitter.com/prowrestlingx
Follow Dave Wishnowski on Twitter!
twitter.com/realwishnowski
PWX on Instagram!
www.instagram.com/prowrestlingx/
PWX on YouTube!
goo.gl/tUSG4w
PWX Official site!
www.prowrestlingx.com/
Yesterday I may have recorded one of the most important podcasts in wrestling game history. No exaggeration.
18 years ago the once seemingly invincible publisher, THQ, announced they were firing AKI, the development company that gifted them with arguably the best and most popular wrestling games of the time. No one would say why. No one was allowed to. THQ muzzled their staff and subsequently delivered the shallow disappointment that was WrestleMania X8 to Gamecube. Gamers were crushed. It was the beginning of the end and just ten years later THQ declared bankruptcy and began selling assets before closing for good. Why would THQ management mysteriously decide to fix something that wasn't broken? What happened between THQ execs and AKI management that made such an obviously fatal decision even an option in the first place?
Thought I’d never know.
But by the end of the podcast recording yesterday...holy shit, guys, now I know. And I heard a ton more than I ever thought I would. For example, I learned exactly how THQ suits treated the people they knowingly and falsely threw under the bus for the AKI/WMX8 fiasco fallout. And while it would have been an epic scoop to interview someone who had worked at THQ or AKI and been anywhere in the building during that clusterfuck and commotion, I am ricockulously lucky to have scored something even better for you guys:
...I just interviewed someone who was IN THE FUCKIN’ ROOM AND AT THE TABLE!
This person initially worked hard to convince clueless THQ execs that AKI was the best developer to make wrestling games even though they were Japanese which was NOT a point in their favor back then. He was on the front lines with THQ and AKI as their infamous WCW games evolved and rose in popularity. He eagerly worked to manage the mountain of license demands by WWF/WWE during the WM2000 and No Mercy period and tirelessly ran interference to protect AKI’s design and development freedom from industry dumbasses. This person was instrumental in getting those games successfully released so they could set the bar for wrestling games that remains virtually unchallenged to this day.
He experienced first hand the glory days of wrestling games and deserves a good deal of credit for them even existing at all.
And then it all went in the shitter.
He lived the behind the scenes tension and drama of AKI’s final days with THQ and became increasingly frustrated as execs pompously ignored warnings about the shit show they were about to create by letting AKI go. he had a front row seat to THQ’s ethically questionable decision to promote the now Yukes-developed WWE games with the infamously shady talking point, ”Developed with key members from the AKI team.”
We all know how it ended. But until now we thought we’d never get The Dirt (heh). Partly because this person felt so justifiably betrayed, screwed, and mistreated that he left wrestling game development behind completely shortly after, swore he’d never return, and has been turning down interview requests for years.
It might only be a big deal to us wrestling gamers, but the epic gravity of the moment was not lost on me when this person reached out to me a while back…
“Hi Dave. I think I’m ready to talk about what happened. Let’s do this interview.”
And so we did.
Rest assured I’ll be posting the hell out of this as soon as it’s ready. Stay tuned...
In the meantime and in between time, that's it, another edition of Wrestling Gamers United.
Thank you for your support,
Dave Wishnowski
PWX on Facebook!
www.facebook.com/ProWrestlingX
Follow Official PWX on Twitter!
twitter.com/prowrestlingx
Follow Dave Wishnowski on Twitter!
twitter.com/realwishnowski
PWX on Instagram!
www.instagram.com/prowrestlingx/
PWX on YouTube!
goo.gl/tUSG4w
PWX Official site!
www.prowrestlingx.com/
In the replies he also claims the AKI engine exists but EA has control over it (which isn't true). Guess you gotta resort to shit like this when you don't have an actual game to release after 18 years.
Also, let's pretend the podcast exists and sees the light of day...the interview's gotta be with Sanders Keel, right?
