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Tekken 7 has been a much-needed breath of fresh air for the long-standing franchise. After years of being the “mid-carder” of the FGC, the franchise found itself a gem when the seventh edition of the mainline series was released. Now, it's easily one of the most beloved installments of the series, and for good reason.
Still, fans have been constantly waiting for one thing: the release of Tekken 8. While Tekken 7 is still going strong today, it has been six years since it was first launched. A new installment in the series is long overdue at this point. Despite that, Bandai Namco hasn't dropped any major hint towards a new game… until now, that is.
Prior to the Grand Finals of the Tekken 7 tournament during Evo, Bandai Namco surprised fans by showing a Tekken trailer. It started off with a rather familiar scene: the iconic Kazuya Mishima throws Heihachi off the cliff scene from Tekken 1. As the camera zooms in on Kazuya's smirk, though, it abruptly cuts to Kazuya's face… but in the updated 3D style we know today. The image came with just two words: “GET READY.”
Ready your fists for more 👊
📣 A free update with battle balance adjustments will be implemented in #TEKKEN 7
🗓 The Global Finals of the #TWT2023 will be held on February 4-5, 2023 in Amsterdam
…watch until the end! pic.twitter.com/47cMCc0VXI
— TEKKEN (@TEKKEN) August 8, 2022
It was a hype trailer, to be fair. Even director Katsuhiro Harada showed up on the commentary booth, got wild for a bit, then dipped out almost immediately. However, the golden question for Tekken fans is: what does this teaser really mean?
Tekken 8 Announcement on the horizon?
Heading into Evo, the prevailing idea was that a new Tekken game was likely going to be announced. Most of the speculation revolved around Tekken 8, of course. There were also some fans, though, that hoped that we would see the third installment of the popular spin-off that is the Tekken Tag Tournament 2.
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Based on the teaser that was just dropped, though, it seems more likely that a Tekken 8 announcement is on the horizon for fans. The Tag Tournament series don't exactly belong to the canon storyline of the main series. Since this trailer referenced the ending of the first Tekken game though (and perhaps the ending of the last game, too), it's more likely that we'll see a continuation of the main story of the series.
Still, this could all very well be just a smokescreen from Harada, who has been known to be a rather huge troll to his fans. For all we know, this could very well just be bait for all the fans starving for more Tekken content. Perhaps all of this just leads to a build-up for yet another DLC for Tekken 7. For all it's flaws, T7 is still an insanely popular game, and is generally well-received by fans.
Updates to Tekken 7 + TWT Global Finals
Prior to the teaser for Tekken 8, the game devs also announced that they will be rolling out an update for the current game after the tournament. It's not quite clear what the exact changes are, but the developers called these both “balance adjustments” while also adding “new tactics”. The most likely option is that certain characters will either get new options for their combos or will get some much-needed nerfs/buffs to their frame data.
Additionally, it was also announced that the Tekken World Tour will be returning in 2022. The team announced that the Global Finals will be held in Amsterdam the next year. The Tekken World Tour is an annual circuit that takes place over the course of the year. The last edition of the Tour was held in 2019, when Chikurin won it over Ulsan.
