After seeing its review scores and player count plummet in the wake of its controversial Season 2 update, Tekken 8 is seemingly going back to basics in its upcoming Season 3, hoping that it’s enough to bring back jaded fans and naysayers.
Announced during the Tekken World Tour Global Finals, a third season is coming to Tekken 8, bringing a total of four brand-new characters to the game, along with a number of adjustments and other additions, including refined balance and rank resets.
The four-minute-long trailer opened with what is essentially an apology for how things have gone. Phrases like “Refined Balance,” “More Conventional” and “A Fresh Start” are shown over gameplay footage before three of the four characters were unveiled.
First, Kunimitsu will be making her return to the game in “Late Spring,” followed by the return of fan-favorite Bob in the “Summer” and Roger Jr. in the “Autumn” months. A fourth character will release in the “Winter” season.
All three represent some of the most highly-requested characters and most glaring omissions from Tekken 8’s base roster, making Season 3 that much more intriguing.
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Whether all these changes will be enough to resurrect Tekken 8 remains to be seen, but it is a bold approach in the face of an absolute free-fall.
For Many Tekken 8 Players, Season 2 Was Enough To End Things
Part of what made Tekken 8’s Season 2 so divisive was Bandai Namco’s decision to double down on aggressive fighting, taking what had been a balanced game with an emphasis on defense into a 50/50 offense-heavy fighter.
Things were bad enough that a boycott website, Boycott-Tekken8.com, was established. Fan backlash was so high that one of the proposed changes was scrapped, but it wasn’t enough.
Season 2 also wasn’t helped by its choice of DLC characters, including Fahkumram, who was already DLC in Tekken 7 and not on the base roster in Tekken 8.
Tekken 8’s player count, which peaked at nearly 50,000 players during its launch, plummeted to the several thousands. Right now, 6,038 players are engaged with the game, a far cry from where things used to be. Elsewhere, its reviews remain in the “Mixed” tier on Steam, with some refusing to change their stance.
For his part, ex-producer Katsuhiro Harada believed that the negative sentiment was blown out of proportion. Harada later departed the franchise and Bandai Namco.
Flash forward to today, and things aren’t any better than they were. But in the coming months, things will hopefully change for the better.
- Released
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January 26, 2024
- ESRB
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t
- Engine
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Unreal Engine 5
- Multiplayer
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Local Multiplayer, Online Multiplayer
- Cross-Platform Play
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PC, PS5 & Xbox Series X|S
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