Over the weekend, Chinese Tekken 8 player Xiao Chen Chen (XCC) performed well in the Thaiger Uppercut. To call this an unexpected result would be an understatement. People know there is a fighting game space in China, but fair or unfair, it doesn’t get the same attention as other countries. XCC originally intended to fight back against this misunderstanding, but failed. He was disqualified due to Tekken World Tour rules.
Did he cheat? Does he perform poorly against other competitors? not at all. The rules of the Tekken World Tour apply to all its events, except for China as one of its participating countries. Not only that, but it also stipulates that players from countries that are not fully listed cannot participate in the tournament. China isn’t the only country absent, but this means that any player from China, regardless of Tekken World Tour ambitions, will not be allowed to compete in many popular Tekken events.
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There are a lot of big problems with this situation, so let’s break them down one by one. First of all, why isn’t China included in Tekken World Tour? Well, there is no official explanation as to why. We know that Tekken 8 does not have dedicated servers in China, nor is it technically an officially supported country. So it’s possible that those responsible for writing the rules for Tekken World Tour simply moved to an officially supported region and called it a day.
Some believe that the line between which countries can compete in Tekken World Tour and which countries cannot compete is dictated by Bandai Namco’s political stance. While that may technically be the case (often products offered in different countries are a result of real world politics, trade embargoes, government approval processes, etc.), I highly doubt a company like Bandai Namco would be on the other side regarding International political issues. Despite all the sports laundering issues, Tekken 8 is still part of the eSports World Cup, so the company has historically not been too concerned about geopolitical relations, human rights abuses, and the like.
Perhaps the bigger question floating around the internet is why was XCC allowed to compete in the first place? In other words, why was he not disqualified until he reached the top eight? You have to understand that DQ at that point in the tournament was a real disaster as far as the integrity of the tournament was concerned. XCC eliminated some very good players on their journey to the top 8 who would otherwise be competing for those sweet Tekken World Tour points (and prize money) in their own right. It left dark stains all over the tournament bracket.
I do feel for the staff at Thaiger Uppercut, although the blame ultimately falls on them. Ideally, they should have discovered XCC and other Chinese players before boarding. But it has 550 competitors, which means someone has to manually check each player to see if they’re from China or another country that’s not listed on Tekken World Tour’s official country list. On start.gg, where you sign up for the event, we can see that XCC lists Shenyang, China as his hometown on his account, so the red flags for breaking the rules are all there.
Whether someone viewed his account, checked out the registered account at all, or thought it wouldn’t be a problem ultimately doesn’t matter. He shouldn’t be able to register at all, as cruel as that sounds. But if you want to benefit from being a part of Tekken World Tour, you have to accept its shortcomings.
Which ultimately leads to the last big question, and I think it’s the most important one. Why on earth would a country’s absence from the Tekken World Tour result in the disqualification of its own events? This may sound strange from the previous paragraph, but all of this should This means that XCC will not be able to obtain Tekken World Tour points, nor will it be able to participate in Bandai events such as TWT finals. According to regulations, Chinese players who aspire to greatness cannot participate any Major events around the world. Although there is a grassroots there and great players live there, they are insulated from the competitive world.
Other competitive games have their own issues when it comes to players coming from restricted areas. In Counter-Strike, the whole scene turned against Russia at the beginning of the war in Ukraine, leaving many previously employed good players stranded and essentially unemployable. Russian players (who can’t get on the stage to denounce Russia while their families remain in the country) have to make a choice: leave the country to pursue their careers, or hang up the gloves and find other jobs. This is obviously a tough choice for Counter-Strike players, but compare this scenario to fighting games, where the average prize for a competitive player might just be a bag of flour and a slap on the back, and it’s easy to see Chinese players in the future No more focus on Iron Fist.
Some are calling for an Olympics-style approach that would allow Chinese athletes to compete without the flag on their backs, but honestly, this could all be solved by adding a brief paragraph to the rules. Players from outside permitted countries can participate in the tournament but cannot take home TWT points.
As it stands, things feel bad. Thaiger Uppercut has been around for over 10 years. It is not the property of Bandai Namco, but since it is sponsored by Tekken World Tour, it must abide by its rules. Many people recall the “good old days” when players would travel to international majors on a whim and compete for $50, and they did so for good reason. While the world of competitive Tekken has become more luxurious and the prize pools more generous in recent years, this has also come with a more hands-on approach from developers and publishers, and an organic “world warrior” environment where monsters from anywhere Majors that can appear in your country are out.
Now this means that players like XCC basically cannot become world champions regardless of their personal skills, and China will be kept in the dark. For me at least, that’s the fundamental value in building a Tekken scene because we know it’s being thrown around. Bandai Namco released a statement saying the rules may change as a result. I sincerely hope they are.
