When Does Tekken 8 Come Out?

• What is Tekken 8 Shaping Up To Be?
• When is Tekken 8 Coming Out?

The seminal Tekken series has been around for a long while now. Since 1994, the fighting game series and its eponymous tournament have facilitated some of the most crowded arcades and wild fans who remain with bated breath for yet another release.

And another release, there will be. As the crowd awkwardly shifted in their seats at the hours-long Game Awards 2022, director Katsuhiro Harada showed us what the next installment would look like.

And this was after the fantastic Sony State Of Play in September. Harada-san had shown us barely a glimpse of it.

So when does Tekken 8 come out?

What Is Tekken 8 Shaping Up To Be? 

Everything we know about the next game so far is through the lens of trailers and a few conspiracy theories.

The strongest one yet has been confirmed. Jin Kazama sees a triumphant return to the center stage after a while of negligence and a long disappearance.

And although Jin will take most of the center screen, other characters like Heihachi and Kazuya will also continue their feud as one of the most dysfunctional families in all of gaming.

The teaser opens up with a fight between Jin and his father, Kazuya, in a seemingly never-ending argument about things from the past, and a silent raising of fists. 

What’s surprising is that most other Tekken teasers and other hype material have been CGI. The team behind the game claim that it is all in-engine for this one.

If that is the case, fans will be drooling to get more, possibly an alpha showcase and a beta event by Q1 2023.

Regardless, the teaser showed off a few of either character’s moveset. Including some new evades and powered-up moves, ending with a transformation into Devil mode for Jin. 

The trailer on the other hand, shows off the relationship between Jin and his parents, with him confirmed to be the center of this narrative.

We see the return of Kazuya as the big bad of this game, and the return of Jin Kazama, one of the oldest characters the game has had.

With this, we see returning characters, the world at stake because of Kazuya’s ego, Jin’s retribution and rise to protect humanity, culminating in what we speculate is an inescapable face-off against his own father.

Despite the campiness of the aforementioned story, you can’t help but smile when you see Harada-san’s approach to the story and the world of Tekken 8.

Yes, the Mishima bloodline story is old, but he doesn’t let it go stale. Yes, new characters come and go, but they leave an impact. And yes, we still don’t know who or what Yoshimitsu is.

When is Tekken 8 Coming Out?

As far as a release date goes, we speculate the Tekken 8 release date to be somewhere around March 2023. The 2nd Japanese fiscal cycle ends that month.

But so far, there are no ‘official’ Tekken 8 leaks yet.

Despite that being the case, Harada is known for his surprises, and won’t hesitate to delay his life’s work a little bit if it means the game comes out as polished as it was last time, or possibly even more.

Whatever the case, we also have a breakdown of speculated/confirmed characters and many more Tekken 8 updates. For the ultimate combat fighting fans, we also have the latest info on when Street Fighter 6 will be released.

Stay tuned to The Lost Gamer!