Tekken 7 has been out for a good few months now, but the game hasn't really been adjusted or added to all that much since launch. We've had a few relatively minor updates as well as the Ultimate Tekken Bowl downloadable content, but it's safe to say that some fans were hoping for a bit more. Returning characters are always a hot topic, as are new game modes.
However, according to creative director Katsuhiro Harada, bringing additional content to the title isn't easy. We asked Harada whether there are plans in place for more playable characters, but sadly, he didn't seem all that optimistic. "I understand that people want to see returning characters implemented to the game but it is not so simple," he tells us. "If you just made all of the same characters from the past instalments you are going to have people who say, 'there is nothing new, give me new characters'. If you then take all the characters you’ve ever made and then put them in one game with the addition of new characters, it will be too much. For Tekken Tag 2 this was a problem that occurred," he explains.
Harada continues: "If you have a game which only has 5 characters, it won’t be difficult to learn because you only have to learn to fight against only five characters. What about a game with 50 characters? Many different players say that they want to see returning characters but also want the game to be accessible. This is not a simple problem and we struggle to figure the optimal number of characters for a fighting game to keep it accessible."
It sounds like the Tekken team have a bit of a dilemma on their hands, and Harada admits that it's "still something I struggle with".
If you were looking forward to the return of Lei Wulong and other fan favourites, you should probably temper your expectations. Going by what Harada said, nothing's been decided yet, but it's not looking especially promising, is it? As always, though, we'll have to wait and see how things pan out.
Were you hoping for returning characters in Tekken 7? Shout your favourites in the comments section below.
You can read our full interview with Harada-san by clicking through here.
Comments 17
I think time is the solution here, give players a fair amount of time to adjust and learn the characters available now, then when that time has passed add older characters in, I would like to see kunimitsu return. You know what's funny though, he says all this while adding characters from other fighting games lol, how many did they say? four characters from other fighting games, correct me if I'm wrong about the number.
@Nesstark88 It's just two: Geese is due at some point in the winter, then the next character is due in 2018.
@ShogunRok Thanks, I was just reading up on it to refresh my memory, so what are your thoughts on this, taking his comment into consideration? lol
I would prefer them to keep the fan favourites in rather than creating lots of new characters but that's me.
@Nesstark88 I think at the end of the day, Harada knows what he's talking about better than anyone. I'm sure if the development team could add characters easily, they would. Unfortunately it doesn't seem like it's as simple as people like to think.
Based on his comments I think returning characters are unlikely. Beyond the season pass content, it doesn't seem like the team have plans for much else.
There's a chance that all of this could change, of course. We don't know how much money they're making off the season pass, for example. If Tekken 7 continues to sell well and continues to be a hit with the fighting game community, maybe they'll expand their scope for support.
It's sad to see my main 'Zafina' to be excluded from the game in this case. Tekken 6 newcomers are implemented into Tekken 7 and Zafina had to be excluded. She is way too recent and way too unique. Regardless of the current condition, TTT2 still managed to succeed with more than 50 characters included and I don't think that Namco will add them all to the current game while there is no need to! But to leave out one character that is recent like Zafina is quite disappointing. My favorite character is Zafina and I hope to see her again soon.
I prefer a good balance of old and new characters on the main roster of fighters, SFV did okay with this except Fang for me.
@adf86 100% agree. And Fang is the only "wasted slot" in sf5 now, dlc included.
It’s a little different with Street Fighter V, Cause it seems that game people don’t want new characters. They want Sagat and Sakura. Anyways, I guess I should give up on Julia Chang return for now.
I can definitely see where he's coming from. One thing the excites me about fighting games is not only who's returning but also who's new and how their story comes into play. Also I believe there's a point of the story going on too. I read somewhere that Harada said that Jun from Tekken 2 is one of the most requested characters to return but due to story reasons she wont, which is where Tekken Tag came from.
@Feena I didn't like his play style plus his look was a bit too out there for SF. Laura plays well even if her look is a bit Dead or Alive like. I'm not a fan of Rashid but at least he looks like he belongs in SF and Necalli is awesome but I struggle to play as him effectively.
I don't get it! This problem could EASILY be solved if Harada just removed all of the useless moves that the characters have and cut their move lists down to maybe 30 or 50 moves max! That way players wouldn't feel overwhelmed with learning all the characters! Then he could add back all the fan favorites like Lei Wulong and Anna. One reason why so many people like to play Street Fighter instead is because it's not nearly as complex! There aren't nearly as many moves to deal with!
Also as far as additional game modes this is a fighting game! The only additional mode that should be added is a tutorial mode and it should be just as good or better than the tutorial modes in Virtua Fighter games! It should teach players how to correctly use EVERY character!
It would also be nice if there was the option to have a small movelist window pop up on the bottom corner of the screen WHILE you're fighting and if it had scrolling functionality! That way you can look at the move list for your character as you're fighting! There's no reason why you should have to go back to training mode or look online just so that you can see a move list while you're fighting!
And for Heaven's sake please add back the replay mode from Tekken Tag 2 so that players can see the replays from their matches! There's no reason why players should have to use the clunky recording feature built into the PS4 that burns up how many gigabytes of hard drive space! No reason for that at all!
Please no begging in the forums -Tasuki-
Well duh, adding brand new characters to a multiplayer game takes effort and balancing?? Give me Soul Calibur.
He's actually 100% correct. KOF XIV has freakin' 50 characters, and despite being a big fan of fighting games, its a whole hell of a lot to take in. As a KOF fan, I got my favorites, but I don't buy new games expecting to stick to the same people - I definitely wanna find some new favorites. But, damn, a roster like KOF XIV is kind of insane. There's definitely a ceiling for roster sizes.
Not to mention, God help you if you're new to a series, or fighting games in general - Step 1 when learning a game is to find a character you'd think you'd like to play. With 50 to look at... whoo boy. That's gotta be intimidating. Tekken 7's roster is great, and while I understand people saying "Add Anna" or "Where's (normal) Raven" and "I love Christie dammit!", I TOTALLY understand where Harada and the T7 team is coming at way more.
I understand where he is coming from, and tekken 7 already has a large roster. But not being able to play as Christie or Julia makes me sad. Didnt he say any returning characters would be free in the past? I guess that also doesn't give much incentive to have to rebalance the whole game to accommodate their inclusion
@Rob_230 Yeah he said in the past that any "classic" characters would be added for free. So we know that the inclusion of returning characters was at least being considered at one point or another.
I'm not asking you to add every character you've ever made Mr. Harada. Making the game accessible? What does that even mean? I have never encountered a fighting game that was disliked for having too big of a roster. I've just never seen it. No one has ever said, you know I like those King of Fighters games but over 50 characters is just too much to deal with, I don't find that very accessible. I'm just not able to access it.
Maybe instead of coming up with new justifications for underachieving, maybe give loyal fans what they want instead of trying to win over people who have never given you a dime and who weren't even born yet when some of us were loyal fans and already giving you that money which seems to be all that you are concerned with.
1995. That was 22 years ago. I spent 22 years as a fan of Lei Wu Long and you just spat in my face and said that I didn't matter. I don't represent a large enough percentage of your customer base. You looked at a spreadsheet that quantified professional tournament data and said not enough people play as Lei for us to do the work to keep him around. You didn't stop to think that those numbers on that spreadsheet represented actual human beings with feelings and for whom Tekken games have held meaning over the years and you just snubbed us and repaid our loyalty with cruelty and dismissiveness.
I bought consoles to play your games. I literally bought a PS One for Tekken. Your old PSX fighting stick that was grey with the yellow buttons and the Namco label in the corner, that was the only additional controller I ever owned for the system. The Sony handheld systems, always sticking with Sony's option of consoles, it was always due at least in part to my love for Tekken, and more specifically my love for Lei and my ability to perform well with my best character not just in Tekken but out of all fighting games. I was giving money to Sony not you. And I'm just one customer with finite resources. I can only buy so many copies of your games.
I just wish that Tekken was the property of a better company, who values its fans and doesn't reduce them to graphical data, who treats fans as people and rewards them for their loyalty, instead of punishing them and mistreated them, taking them for granted and dropping them flat on their face after two decades.
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