Tekken 8 Director Responds to Waffle House Stage Requests

Tekken 8’s latest update patch is now live, bringing with it a host of bug fixes and other quality-of-life improvements. The latest entry in the hard-hitting Tekken franchise was released back in January and has earned rave reviews thanks to its visual presentation and more “aggressive” gameplay. Tekken 8 marks a new chapter in the far-reaching Mishima family saga, as Jin Kazama returns to his earlier role as a hero and aims to take down his father Kazuya Mishima once and for all, while a large cast of supporting characters embarks on their own connected stories through intense, one-on-one battles.

Bandai Namco is gearing up to roll out the next update for Tekken 8, and has revealed exactly what the patch will bring with it. Set to go live on April 16 (depending on what time zone you’re in), the patch is going to be a relatively minor one, with a couple of notable additions and changes.

Tekken 8's producer, Katsuhiro Harada, expressed his impressions about a Roblox recreation of Bandai Namco's fighting game and its inclusion of a stage based on Waffle House. The Tekken series is well-known for having a number of fighters that span across the entire globe, with a number of cultures and martial arts styles being represented. Tekken 8's stages are diverse backdrops from different parts of the world, including Rome, France, Peru, and the United States of America. One incredibly popular request is a stage based on a Waffle House.

Some new videogame releases pounce on us like excitable Golden Retrievers, while others become apparent to us more insidiously, like undead Golden Retrievers creeping back from the grave to do their master's bidding unto eternity. Withering Rooms is one of the latter: released out of early access last week, and noticed by me just yesterday, it's a haunted mansion metroidvania in which you are a small girl in a nightie who must use meat cleavers, pentagrams and spells of self-enlargement or possession or incineration to overcome various monsters of the Silently Hilly and/or Residentially Evil persuasion. No, none of the monsters are Golden Retrievers.

A popular mod website recently received a cease-and-desist letter from Bandai Namco, accusing it of trademark infringement. However, the website’s administrator denies any wrongdoing.

Tekken 8 started off strong with widespread critical acclaim and impressive sales right out the gate, but Bandai Namco’s post-launch monetization approach for the fighter has irked a fair few in its player base. The company’s decision to add an in-game microtransactions store a few weeks after release was met with significant backlash, and the recent decision to introduce a battle pass has provoked a similar reaction.

Following the controversial addition of the Battle Pass and microtransactions in Tekken 8's latest update, its recent Steam review status is now sitting at mixed. Tekken 8 originally launched this past January to rave reviews from fans and critics, where it became one of 2024's highest-rated games alongside Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. While the game still has a mostly positive reception, perception of the game has started shifting to be a bit more negative than what it received at launch, due to some controversial post-launch announcements involving microtransactions.

Tekken 8's latest update has been met with a wave of negative user reviews, bringing its overall Steam rating down to "mixed". Most of these negative reviews criticise the battle pass, which was added to the game in the latest patch.

Tekken 8’s first character DLC is now available for all players to purchase.

Iconic capoeira fighter Eddy Gordo is now available in Tekken 8 as part of the game's season pass.

Outspoken Tekken 8 director Katsuhiro Harada has made a bold claim that is unlikely to ruffle any feathers in the broader audience: younger gamers prefer team-based games because they can blame, at least partially, any losses on their teammates rather than having to take sole responsibility for losing on themselves.

Let's cut the preamble and get right to the good stuff—the discounts of the day! Cream of the crop deals include a historical low on Super Mario RPG, a decent chunk off the GOAT that is The Last of Us Part I, and No Man's Sky went half off in time for its Orbital update. Gaming's greatest comeback story, that one. You love to see it.