Tekken's Katsuhiro Harada discussed the evolution of the fighting game genre and the need to adapt to younger players' preferences in the latest episode of the AIAS Game Maker’s Notebook podcast.
Harada Discusses Future of Tekken 8
Suggests Team-Based Mode Due to Younger Players' Disinclination to 1v1
Tekken series director Katsuhiro Harada noted a shift in attitude towards one-on-one clashes in fighting games. He remarked that the younger generation of players tends to favor team-based competition over individual showdowns on the AIAS Game Maker’s Notebook podcast recently.
Harada pointed out his observation on current players' behavior. "In team-based shooters, when players win, they can say that they won because of their own contributions, but when they lose, it’s because they got matched with a lousy team."
"Because fighting games pit you by yourself against a single opponent, you have to accept all the responsibility if you lose. You can’t blame anyone else," Harada said, after discussing the differences between generations regarding competitiveness.
Acknowledging this shift, Harada expressed his intention to incorporate elements of team-based matches outside of the main game to appeal to younger audiences. "They could opt for team battles, such as 3v3 matches," Harada said, "I think we may want to incorporate this into the online mode's official rankings."
"Maybe team matches could have positions within a team, something like the order of teammates in Judo matches," he added, "Maybe with more varied modes based on things like teams or regions, it could add more meta gaming as well."
Tekken 8 Gets '41% Negative' Recent Reviews on Steam
While Harada has his criticism of the younger demographic of fighting games, so do Tekken 8 fans regarding the game. Although Tekken 8 maintains a 'Very Positive' overall rating on Steam, players continue to be disgruntled with the recent addition of a Battle Pass and microtransactions in Tekken 8's latest update.
The game's recent reviews on Steam shifted to "Mixed" ratings. Some users expressed their dissatisfaction with Bandai Namco's monetization decisions, noting the company's perceived greed and lack of responsiveness to player feedback.
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Tekken 8 Recent Reviews Are 'Mixed' After Controversial Addition
