Can Tekken 8 Overcome Its Season 2 Mishaps?
May 12, 2025
Since the start of Season 2, Tekken 8 has been in a bad place. Adjustments to the gameplay at the start of the season promised a more engaging experience, but what players have received has been a mess more than anything. Recent reviews of the game have almost nothing positive to say. Tekken 8 just hasn't been fun to play.
The Tekken team has really fumbled with this game, but there is hope for the future. Katsuhiro Harada, the executive producer of Tekken 8, has confirmed that various actions have been taken — and are currently being taken — to hopefully improve the game's balance significantly. EVO Japan 2025 has officially closed the book on a bad era of Tekken 8. It can only go up from here.
Three Balance Patches All Before The End Of Summer
Tekken 8 has a lot of work to do to repair its relationship with its audience. The game's only going to achieve that through balance adjustments at this point, and the Tekken team recognizes that, thankfully. Three balance patches have already been scheduled before the end of summer: one on May 13, another on June 3, and a final patch that currently lacks an official date.
That might sound like a lot of balancing, but Tekken 8 is legitimately in that bad of a state. Tekken 8 Ver. 2.01, the March 13 patch, directly addresses the game's attack-heavy balance. Nerfs have come for low-risk, high-reward moves, aerial combo damage has been lowered, Heat Burst has become easier to evade, and Heat Smash does less chip damage.
Even with all those changes, Ver. 2.02 of Tekken 8 is still expected to tweak the game significantly. Harada has mentioned defense, in particular. More character-specific balancing can also be expected, even going beyond these summer patches.
Big Changes In Direction Within The Tekken Team
According to Harada, the balancing team for Tekken 8 was initially composed of a core of developers who were entirely new to the role. That is no longer the case, as it appears that the entire balancing team has been replaced with developers who have prior experience working on Tekken's gameplay. In bringing back the old guard, the hope is that Tekken 8's balance adjustments will feel better directed.
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Game director Kohei Ikeda, otherwise known as Nakatsu, will also be taking a more active role going forward. All balancing decisions will now pass through him. Nakatsu has worked with the tuning team in the previous two Tekken titles, so his expertise should be a big help. Within the Tekken team, there is confidence that they can turn this ship around. Hopefully they do, because Tekken 8 has always had the foundation to be something truly special.
