Tekken 7 – The newest game in the venerable fighting series – running since 2017. It’s the best part of five years, at this point. But, after more than 9 million sales and five years of support, it looks like Bandai Namco and the franchise’s face, Katsuhiro Harada, are ready for the next battle.
A “Blink and You’ll Miss It” trailer played during EVO 2022 last night, and it hinted at a brand new Tekken game. Will this be the next canon game in the series, Tekken 8
You can see the trailer embedded above, showing the finale of series mainstay and Smash Bros. interloper Kazuya Mishima, from the original Tekken.
We can see him throwing his unloved, sociopathic father, Heihachi, off a cliff – and then into the “current” version of Kazuya (full red eye) with a static clip in nice, crisp, modern graphics. and scars). “Get ready,” the trailer tells us.
Tekken fans aren’t particularly surprised by the announcement: Tekken 8 is one of the featured games in Nvidia’s Geforce Now data-mining, and a Netflix show for the series is in the works. The timing is just right for another game in the venerable 3D fighting series – and it looks like there’s going to be a lot of support behind it.
Bandai Namco also announced that it will release a free update for Tekken 7 on August 17, interestingly adding balance tweaks and “new tactics.” No further information was shared about the update.
If Bandai Namco can convert a fraction of Tekken 7’s audience to Tekken 8, the game will be a success. Between Project L, Street Fighter 6, and the new Garou/Fatal Fury games, we’ve really had a fighting game renaissance. I just wish you had a decent arcade stick.
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