Tekken 8 director promises crossplay and “a lot more” characters than Street Fighter 6

Tekken 8 game director Katsuhiro Harada has recently suggested that the upcoming Bandai Namco fighting game entry will have “a lot more” characters than that of “Capcom-san’s.” This indicates that the eighth mainline Tekken entry may contain a larger roster than that of Street Fighter 6, further fueling the ongoing debate between each side of the fan base.

However, Harada also mentioned that “character modeling, rigging, and costume design” are all hard work, meaning it may take longer than usual for all fighters to be included in the game. That said, the development team is apparently still doing their best in increasing the number of character launches ahead of the game’s release.

At the time of writing, a total of 12 fighters have already been revealed for the Tekken 8 character list with more surely set to be introduced in the coming weeks. The latest ones that were introduced include Asuka Kazama and Leroy Smith, both of whom were included in the last installment, Tekken 7. It’s worth noting, though, that Leroy was only brought in previously as a DLC character, but is seemingly being included as part of the main roster due to his popularity with the fan base.

In addition to Tekken 8’s roster size, Katsuhiro Harada also promised that crossplay functionality will be available at launch. The game’s director also revealed that cross-platform play between “two platformers” had already been suggested when Tekken 7 had initially come out. At that time, however, it seemed that both parties were “at odds with each other over their mutual interest,” which led to them repeatedly refusing.

With Harada now announcing the integration of Tekken 8 crossplay and the availability of “a lot more” characters than Street Fighter 6, fans of the popular Bandai Namco fighting game series can’t help but be excited for its arrival.