If there’s one thing the fighting game community has probably mastered at this point, its waiting. Many of the biggest fighting games in the world get lengthy tours of the Japanese market before ever making their way to North America. The same looks to be the case for Tekken 7, which Bandai Namco recently confirmed would get a major update before we’ve even seen a timeline for the game’s Western debut.
Last month, Bandai Namco announced plans to release Tekken 7: Fated Retribution; an updated version of the game that’s been making waves in Japanese arcades for the last few months. While not especially surprising, considering we’ve seen similar updates for many recent Tekken releases, fans around the globe were shocked when an early trailer for Tekken 7: Fated Retribution confirmed the latest build of Tekken 7 will introduce Akuma (from Street Fighter) to the roster. The announcement set off a wave of speculation, with fans wondering whether this is a sign that the oft-delayed Tekken x Street Fighter is back on track or if we might see other Street Fighter combatants join the King of Iron Fist tournament.
Unfortunately, it sounds like Akuma is the only member of the Street Fighter roster making the jump to Tekken 7. Last week, PlayStation Lifestyle published a new interview with a pair of high-ranking Tekken 7 developers: senior game designer Michael Murray and visual design manager Kousuke Waki. While the two understand the appeal, particularly for those fond of both Street Fighter and Tekken, but the devs say they’d like to avoid adding too many guest characters to the mix.
“Akuma is the only one we have planned,” Murray told PlayStation Lifestyle. “[Game Producer Katsuhiro Harada] and I have always been against guest characters…But Akuma fits the bill, and we wanted to tie him into the story so that the crossover is not some cheesy gimmick.”
For more on the dev team’s plans for Tekken 7, including thoughts on Unreal Engine 4 and the recent fighting game renaissance, read PlayStation Lifestyle’s entire interview with Murray and Waki. Or, if you’d just like to watch some footage, check out the latest Tekken 7 trailer from Bandai Namco.
Tekken 7 is believed to be in development for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC. The game is currently available in Japanese arcades; however, there’s no word on a Western release at this time.
Be sure to check back with iDigitalTimes.com and follow Scott on Twitter for more Tekken 7 coverage throughout 2016 and for however long Bandai Namco continues to support Tekken 7 in the months following launch.
