Don’t count on getting guest characters like Akuma and Noctis in Tekken 8 anytime soon

Don’t expect guest characters like Noctis or Akuma to appear in a shiny new Tekken 8 trailer anytime soon. According to Harada on Twitter, the team is focusing on the other main Tekken characters for now.

This came in response to a request from a user, who asked the director of Bandai Namco’s revered fighting game series to have Leon Kennedy and Albert Wesker of Resident Evil fame included in the game. Harada, a man known for asking fans not to ask him for shit, responded anyway. The user would then make his account private to escape the limelight.

“There’s a character that needs to be done before the guest character, so forget about the guest character for now.” Harada replied, sincere and direct. The game isn’t out yet guys, it was only recently played in early alpha testing on physical setups. The core cast of, you know, Tekken characters aren’t done yet.

This isn’t the first time a guy with a Twitter account and a dream has sent Harada a message asking for a long list of characters they’d like to see. This has yet to work of course, but it doesn’t stop people from trying it. You can see similar breeds of stoner responding to Ed Boon’s posts with Mortal Kombat requests, and it was a common occurrence back when Smash Bros: Ultimate was still releasing DLC ​​characters regularly.

But to give you some slack, this behavior is trained on Tekken fans to some degree, as it was in Smash and Mortal Kombat. Guest characters in recent memory have been a surefire way to generate hype and DLC sales for developers, allowing players to see a pop culture icon or even a character from another fighting game make a cheeky cameo. Part of the reason this has become popular in fighting games is because it keeps fans guessing what might come next and praying for their own favorites.

Tekken 7 reveled in this strategy, incorporating exciting DLC ​​guest characters like Noctis from Final Fantasy 15, Negan from The Walking Dead, Geese Howard from King of Fighters, and more. These are great for bringing in waves of new players, even if occasionally the OGs have mixed opinions. You can be sure that the guest characters played a role in Tekken 7’s huge sales figures.

But the thing is, they came after the launch! Some will point to Akuma as a launch character, but that’s not true! Tekken 7 launched in arcades with a pure Tekken cast a year before Tekken 7: Fated Retribution and Satsui No Hado came out on our consoles. You have to include the Tekken characters first, then you can have some fun.

Don’t be discouraged though, as if you’ve read Harada’s words, you’ll see that the guest characters are not off the table. Why would they be? They’re just not the priority right now. So relax, have a little patience and cross your fingers.

If you’re looking for more information on Tekken 8, you should know that a beta and crossplay should be on the way at some point in the future! With the constant updates we get to Tekken 8, as well as the variety of other fighting games, it seems like a great era for the genre.