Tekken 8 developers Kohei Ikeda and Michael Murray discuss pro player input and future monetization (Exclusive)

During the Tekken 8 preview session, I had a chance to sit down with Kohei Ikeda (Game Director) and Michael Murray (Producer) to talk about the upcoming game. During the roundtable discussion, all journalists had a chance to ask a few questions. The focus of mine was on pro player input and the overall monetization of the game. After all, monetization is a hot topic right now, and managing that poorly could seriously damage the reputation of a game, no matter how great it is.

Tekken 8 is a very interesting fighting game, and they took a different approach when it came to developing the game - something they have never done before. It was clear to me how passionate the developers were about the game feeling and looking good. Here’s what we learned in our exclusive developer interview.

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Tekken 8’s Kohei Ikeda and Michael Murray open up about the upcoming fighting game

Fighting games are in such a great spot right now, and Tekken 8 has the potential to be the greatest fighting game of 2024. However, even great games slip up.

I asked the Tekken 8 developers about the monetization of the game. Capcom has made some pretty serious blunders with their DLC prices, and the fans won’t forget it anytime soon.

While Kohei Ikeda couldn’t say too much about DLC, it sounds like they’re going to be careful about what they do going forward. Fans of the series already know how Tekken 7 was monetized: with fair, solid content. It sounds like Tekken 8 will likely see a similar pricing and content structure:

“So, since he's the director on that side of things, I should probably say it's quite difficult to answer because we haven't really touched on our post launch content that much yet. Granted, you know, we do have several seasons of Tekken 7, which we supported. So I think people have a general idea of what to expect from our title. And we are well aware of the fighting game community and gamers as a whole, and their feelings to the current situation is about as far as I can go and that.” - Kohei Ikeda (via translator Michael Murray)

While chatting with Kohei Ikeda and Michael Murray about Tekken 8, my next thought was the actual development of the game. Not all fighting games are designed in the same way, and it’s interesting to know exactly what kind of input players have.

At the event itself, there were several noteworthy fighting game players and influencers in attendance: Tasty Steve, Markman, Maximilian, Justin Wong, and Victor of Team Spooky, among others. It was a real who’s who of Tekken content creators. So, I was curious what sort of input pro players had, to which Kohei had this to say:

“Ikeda said that, of course we feel that we really need to resonate with our core fans, because they're the ones who are going to be evangelizing for us to the more general audience. So earlier on in the development phase we approached a lot of players in Japan and outside of it to get their thoughts on the game before we even went public. Then we did the CNT and CBT after that. So it was really important to us.” - Kohei Ikeda (via translator Michael Murray)

Michael Murray added to the statement, highlighting that while quite a few pro players got hands-on earlier than anyone else, things were significantly different this time around. Tekken 7, for example, hit arcades before coming to consoles, similar to the game's previous iterations. However, things will be different this time. Murray said:

“And I would add as well, that, like you said, we approached them that they were under NDA and all that some of them got to see the game ahead of time. But since we didn't have the arcade version to kind of polish it first, we took a different approach this time to get the core mechanics correct. -Michael Murray

“We did like a consistent approach for the people who didn't know the game in and out but then after that we gradually opened it up a little bit more. The CAT first at, you know, Combo Breaker and EVO and some of these fighting games centered places and then opening it up to a wider audience once we've made several iterations on combat systems for CBT, etc. So I think that system was granted for Tekken 8 and it was a pretty good replacement for that arcade centric approach taken previously.” - Michael Murray

It's nice to see that everyone's feedback is being taken into account for Tekken 8. While it is good to see that pro players had their input on how things are going, the game should be fun for everyone - and so far, it is.

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Tekken 8 will be released on January 26, 2024. I recently had a chance to go hands-on with the game’s final build, which you can read more about here. 2024 is going to be a very exciting year for fighting games, that’s for sure.