Iconic Console Brand Returns; Bandai Namco Plays on Nostalgia
At the culmination of the three-day EVO 2022 event, Bandai Namco shared a teaser of the new Tekken. Are we going to get a remake of the 1994 game, a reboot of the series, or maybe the 8th installment?
During EVO 2022 - specifically right after the grand finale of the Tekken 7 tournament - Bandai Namco released a teaser for the next update of its flagship hit. The usual announcement quickly turned into something unexpected. For at the end of the trailer, the iconic cut-scene from the first Tekken was played, in which Kazuya Mishima throws his father, Heihachi Mishima, off a cliff. Moments later, there was a breakthrough.
As a close-up shot of Kazuya's face followed, the model of his character - known from the 1994 original - was swapped for a modern version. The message "Get Ready" also appeared on the screen, which can be interpreted as a trailer for the next installment of Tekken. This teaser of sorts can be viewed on the studio's Twitter account - It has already gathered more than 100,000 views. The key moment begins at 1:40 mark.
After the great frenzy broke over the announcement of the new installment, the official EVO stream featured series director Katsuhiro Harada, although he did not grace us with details about the upcoming release. The tension-building silence and subconscious voices of nostalgia encourage us to safely assume that the latest installment of Tekken will be either a remake of the first installment or a reboot of the series. However, one cannot simply rule out another installment with the number 8.
Tekken 7 was released on PC, PS4 and Xbox One in 2017. The title found more than 6 million buyers, helping the brand surpass the mark of 50 million copies sold. The series' premiere installment was released in Japan on the PlayStation console in December 1994 (it debuted in Europe in November 1995). Interestingly enough, Tekken can be found in the Guinness Book of World Records - it's the first PlayStation console title to sell more than one million units, the first 3D fighting game, and the brand as a whole is the best-selling PlayStation console fighting game series in history.
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