Tekken 7 saw one of the best players from around the world, Knee, claim his first North American Evo title at Evo 2022. With the win, Bandai Namco laid out an outline to look ahead for the next phase of the sport and the next steps… in a way.
After a few minutes of a snarky play with the words in the trailer and the reveal after Top 8 to Tekken 7 confirmed another year of Tekken World Tour competitive action–culminating in the Global Finals in Amsterdam from February. 4 through 5 February 2023.
With that announcement, Bandai will be releasing an updated battle patch in the coming game in August. 17th. It will feature balance adjustments to the roster as well as new strategies which will give characters more options to play with. Based on the trailer the additional combinations and moves appear to be the main focus which could result in new interactions that are only available following this update.
More details will be revealed regarding the update prior to its release, but the majority of players believed that the words were pointing toward an announcement of Tekken 8.
People who want that they will see the next chapter in the Tekken franchise won’t go home completely empty-handed. A short teaser that was shown at the conclusion of the trailer showed an alteration from the iconic scene from the first Tekken featuring Kazuya dropping her Heihachi from the edge, and smiling in the direction of the camera. But, instead of looking at the mesmerizing photo of Kazuya’s face, it changed to a sleeker, more modern-looking character with just a few lines instructing viewers to “Get prepared.”
It’s not a surprise that this was not enough to resolve some confusion over the message However, Evo director TheHadou confirmed that it was the first Tekken project that was teased and not just another clip that hypes the series overall.
It’s unlikely that we’ll get any more information about what the next Tekken project will be for a while and yet when you consider Tekken 7 was sold more than nine million units and boasts an ardent fan base, if it does come out it’s likely to trigger an event similar to how Tasty Steve and other commentators were screaming along with Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada when the trailer was over.