After being canceled in 2020 and turning into a summer-long digital tourney in 2021, EVO is back in full force this year. The fighting game tournament in Las Vegas, Nevada drew players in from around the world. Between the hype matches and floor festivities was a slew of announcements. Multiple fighting games are getting rollback netcode, and the Fatal Fury series is finally picking back up with a sequel to Garou: Mark of the Wolves. It was a great time for players and spectators alike, and it feels good to have EVO back. Out of all these announcements, the latest Tekken news stood out.

This announcement came after the Tekken 7 Grand Finals on Sunday afternoon, and initially took the form of a casual update trailer. Tekken 7 was confirmed to be getting a balance update this month, and the Tekken World Tour 2022 Global Finals will be held next February. However, the trailer started with an Unreal Engine logo and Bandai Namco's redesigned logo. When the trailer concluded, Kazuya Mishima's original Tekken model cut to a modern look with the message "Get Ready" fading in. With series director Katsuhiro Harada making only a brief appearance, the door is open for fans to speculate on what this teaser means.

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Tekken 1 Remake

The first thing on many fans' minds when the trailer ended was that some sort of Tekken 1 remake could be in the works. It would be an odd move, but not unprecedented. Soul Calibur 6 brought the series back to Soul Calibur 1, largely owing to the SC5 cast being less popular. Tekken doesn't have that problem, and even with Heihachi Mishima possibly dying for good at the end of Tekken 7, he could still appear as a memory like his late wife Kazumi or King of Fighters’ Geese Howard. Seeing as the teased look at a modern Kazuya has his scar and red eye, both of which came from games after Tekken 1, a remake seems unlikely.

Tekken X Street Fighter

A fight from Street Fighter X Tekken

The next possibility is Tekken X Street Fighter, the other side of the decade-old crossover with Capcom's Street Fighter franchise. Due to Street Fighter X Tekken's disastrous sales and reputation, the Tekken X Street Fighter project was put on indefinite hiatus. It appears that Akuma's story-integrated cameo in Tekken 7 may be the furthest this crossover goes.

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Tekken Tag Tournament 3

The Tekken franchise is not limited to numbered games and crossovers. There have been several spin-offs, such as the live-service Tekken Revolution and two Tekken Tag Tournament (TTT) titles. The TTT games are quite popular with the fans, as both of them are non-canon mashups of characters, with Tekken Tag Tournament 2 serving as the main competitive Tekken game after Tekken 6. It had some balance issues due to mixing boss characters in with normal fighters, but it was still enjoyed by fans.

The one issue with releasing another dream match Tekken game is that TTT 2 underperformed. Due to many fighting games releasing around 2012, it seems like Tag Tournament 2 was lost in the fold. The Wii U's low install base and small traditional fighting game audience meant it had trouble keeping up. While a re-release of Tekken Tag Tournament 2 might do better now than it did a decade ago, the fact that it undersold means that a third entry is unlikely.

Tekken 8

tekken 7 release date reveal

With all that being said, it's very likely that Tekken 8 is currently in development. The opening logos are a big indicator, as specifying Unreal Engine implies Tekken 8 may be developed on Unreal Engine 5. It’s difficult to tell if Kazuya’s teased model is new, but it could be. Also, unlike most fighting games, Tekken tends to move forward chronologically with each game. Those familiar with Tekken 7's story will know that it ends with a homage to Kazuya’s Tekken 1 ending, in which he throws a defeated Heihachi over a cliff, which could be the scene shown in this teaser.

One other reason to believe the mystery project is Tekken 8 is that Bandai Namco recently fell victim to a ransomware attack, and a schedule detailed its next year of major games. This list has not been verified, but Tekken 8 was also part of the more proven leaked Nvidia GeForce Now database. Bandai Namco has yet to show more than a minuscule teaser for the next Tekken project, but more information may come by the end of the World Tour Finals. Tekken 7 has been hitting hard for the past five years, and it feels like the right time to start preparing for its next title bout.

A Tekken project is in development.

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