New Japan Pro Wrestling will finally return to the (digital) squared-circle in 2018, courtesy of a new expansion for Fire Pro Wrestling World slated to arrive alongside the PlayStation 4 port of Spike Chunsoft’s latest wrestling game. Additional information remains scarce, for now, but we do know some of the NJPW performers (and other content) we’ll see in FPWW later this year.
A smattering of NJPW’s top talent seems to be confirmed for the FPWW expansion. A tweet about the second Fire Pro DLC, published after the deal was revealed at Wrestle Kingdom 2018 Fan Festa, features the likes of Hiroshi Tanahashi, Kazuchika Okada, Kenny Omega and Tetsuya Naito. But it’s safe to assume we’ll see many more wrestlers join the FPWW roster, and willbe the first time many NJPW stars have appeared in a video game. Omega and Tanahashi were sort of represented in Tekken 7, mostly via costumes, in a pair of add-ons that were heavy on Bullet Club gear. But adding NJPW to Fire Pro Wrestling World will make it easier for Western wrestling fans, not yet familiar with the company’s full roster, to familiarize themselves with one of Japan’s top promotions.
It won’t be the first time we see real wrestlers on the Fire Pro roster either. Spike Chunsoft is already selling a Yoshihiro Takayama expansion that adds the iconic Japanese wrestler, a new move paying homage to his legendary fight against Don Frye and a custom moveset for Takayama. All proceeds from the expansion will help cover the wrestler’s growing medical expenses . (Takayama has been in the hospital, paralyzed from the neck down, after suffering an in-ring injury in August 2017.) The next wave of Fire Pro Wrestling World content won’t drop until the PS4 release currently set for Summer 2018. And it’s not clear whether or not we’ll see other expansions after the NJPW content debuts. But we’re certainly going to have our fingers crossed for similar deals with other promotions. It wouldn’t take much more -- and at this point some Ring of Honor DLC hardly feels like a stretch -- for Fire Pro to replace the WWE 2K franchise as the preferred wrestling game of PC and PS4 owners.
Fire Pro Wrestling World is available now on Steam.
Be sure to check back with Player.One and follow Scott on Twitter for more Fire Pro Wrestling World news in 2018 and however long Spike Chunsoft supports FPWW in the years ahead.
