It’s an interesting period for fans of fighting games. This year has already seen the release of the outstanding Street Fighter 6 and the robust Mortal Kombat 1, both adding value to the genre. Adding to the excitement, Tekken 8 is just a few months away from its launch. This game, under the aegis of Katsuhiro Harada, often regarded as the face of Tekken, is taking shape well. A surprising revelation made by Harada recently is that Tekken 8 was initially scheduled to release much earlier than its current launch date of 28th January, 2024. However, it was shifted to avoid clashing with the launch of another gaming title.
Harada made this disclosure on his YouTube show, Harada's Bar. In the episode, he refrains from mentioning the specific title that caused the change in Tekken 8’s release date. However, from the conversation, it is evident that the game in reference was none other than Street Fighter 6. According to Harada, both Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6 were originally planning a release on 2nd June.
As Harada explains, "We discovered about it two years ago... The release date of that game was coinciding with Tekken 8." This surprising overlap led to a dilemma within the team, Harada adds, "What should we do?"
Unwilling to release Tekken 8 on the same day as Street Fighter 6, the team concluded that delaying Tekken 8’s release by half a year was the best solution. Harada is confident that neither game would have benefitted from conducting their launch on the same day. Addressing the matter, Harada tells that his team had a discussion with Capcom, and mutually decided to keep each other informed about their respective launch dates. "Even though companies in the same genre don't get along that well, sometimes a kind of intuition kicks in," Harada observes.
On a further note, Harada discloses the team was already contemplating on rescheduling Tekken 8's launch date - "We had a lot on our plate and felt like the release date needed to be postponed anyway," he mentions. The fact that Capcom‘s Street Fighter 6 was slated for the same launch time provided Bandai Namco - the team behind Tekken 8 - a golden chance to continue their developmental work on Tekken 8. The team is set to host a closed beta test for the game next week, starting from 20th October.
This perhaps is an intriguing story to follow for gamers and we look forward to observing how both Tekken 8 and Street Fighter 6 fair post their respective launches. So, gamers, are you thrilled about the upcoming Tekken 8 launch? Your thoughts are welcome in the comments section below. Special thanks to Greatsong1 for the valuable information provided.
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