Tekken 8’s Katsuhiro Harada Calls Player Reaction So Far ‘Overwhelmingly Positive’ | Comic Con 2023

At San Diego Comic-Con 2023, we had the chance to speak with Tekken 8 Director Katsuhiro Harada and Producer Michael Murray to learn the latest details about the highly anticipated next installment in the legendary fighting series.

During our interviews, we touched on a variety of topics, including how the team deals with player feedback, how it’s “overwhelmingly positive” making them a little nervous, who the best-dressed fighters in the Tekken universe are, and which moves would hurt most in real life.

Tekken 8 doesn’t have a release date at this time, but PlayStation 5-only closed network testing is running today until July 24th, and across all platforms (PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC) from July 28th to 31st. Unfortunately, sign-ups for these tests are now closed.

During our hands-on preview of Tekken 8, we said, “Tekken 8 looks phenomenal, its hits are as impactful as ever, and its iconic character cast is even more uniquely defined thanks to the new heat system.

You can learn more about Tekken 8 below. Also be sure to check out his netcode details on crossplay and rollback, as well as our exclusive first interview with Harada about the game.

IGN: What’s up everyone? Stella Chan here. I’m outside the Tekken 8 area, but I’m very excited to be speaking with developers Katsuhiro Harada and Michael Murray. Let’s go inside and see what they can tell us. So now that you have a unique intro dialogue between certain characters before the match starts, do you have a favorite pairing or joke between the two characters?

Katsuhiro Harada/Michael Murray: This is what we’ve done with past entries, such as Tag Team and possibly Tekken 5. So it depends on the combination of characters and what they say. So if they have a special relationship, for better or worse, things change. And Mr. Harada says that Jun and Kazuya are his favorites.

How will the new special control types help bring new characters and new players not just to Tekken but to fighting games in general?

KH/MM: The system you mentioned is completely new in Tekken 8. In Tekken 7, there was a similar system as its predecessor that made it easy to execute certain commands with the press of a button. But this time it has evolved even further. But one of the interesting things is obviously, like you said, it’s good to bring in new players that they’ve found they like. And even if you’re a seasoned player, trying to pick up a new character you’re unfamiliar with is much easier with a special control system. So it’s actually beneficial for a wide variety of players. And so far it’s gotten a great response to it.

What kind of feedback have you received on the game over the past month since we talked about it at the Summer of Gaming?

KH/MM: First, different people have played the game. You can actually get them here and elsewhere. We put it out, people saw it, and we had time to play it for a bit. So at some point I expected people to get used to it and give me mixed feedback. Some may not be positive. That’s how it works. And fix that and everything will be fine. For us, we are a little nervous that the response has been overwhelmingly positive. The last time I spoke with IGN, they only rolled out the game earlier, but now it’s closed in the background. They obviously love the new gameplay mechanics, but they’re also new to netcode and the traditional online experience.

Here at San Diego Comic-Con, there are 16 playable characters.

KH/MM: I agree?

yes. So who are the most popular characters of all time?

KH/MM: There are 16 characters in the playable build. I haven’t had a chance to check the play data, so I can’t speak from an empirical perspective, but I just got to see everyone playing the game. Kazuya and King are also picked up by many people. So perhaps these he two are the popular ones so far.

Can you elaborate on some of the changes you made for this closed test and what people are experiencing right now?

KH/MM: Well, it hasn’t been that long since we last talked about it, so there weren’t any dramatic changes to gameplay, just tweaks and such. The biggest difference is probably online play. It’s the first time everyone has seen it. I’ve been saying it all along, but many people don’t realize it, but the game has crossplay and people can try it. Not this week, but when we publish to other platforms as well. With this, people can just look at the matches and see other aspects of the game as well.

Tekken has some of the wackiest and most stylish characters in modern fighting games. Who do you think is the most dressed up roster currently on display?

KH/MM: This time too, the characters are full of individuality, so it’s hard. But Lili in particular has a designer that he’s been paying attention to for a long time, and this is the first time I’m actually working with her. I believe her name is Jasmine and she is from New Zealand. Actually, I asked her to design Lili this time as well. And it’s a brand new outfit for her based on an artist he’s wanted to work with for a long time. So maybe that’s his favourite.

Earlier today you were on a panel discussion and I watched it and you guys were amazing. You were discussing real-world tricks and how they would be represented in Tekken. So, of all the movements in the game, which one do you think hurts the most?

KH/MM: That’s a really tough question, but maybe it’s Mr. King’s question. All of his throws are pretty dangerous if you’re actually going to do it for real. But perhaps not noticeable at first are low kicks to the shins and other areas of the low kick. Because it is quite painful for those who are not used to it. People who do Muay Thai like me get used to it because their shins get stiffer, but he said that it hurts a lot when he gets a low kick when he’s not used to it.

Those are good answers. For me, it’s like, “I’m fine. I won’t get any.” Thank you very much. This was a lot of fun. Thank you very much for your time.

KH/MM: you’re welcome.

Stella is a Video Producer, Host and Editor at IGN. Her gameplay focus is competitive her FPS games and so far she has reviewed Apex Legends, Hyper Scape, Halo Infinite Multiplayer and Battlefield 2042. When she’s not streaming on her Twitch channel after working out, she regularly hosts and shoutcasts Apex Legends and Halo Infinite competitive tournaments. Follow her on Twitter @ParallaxStella.

Adam Bankhurst is a news writer for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter @Adam Bankhurst and further Twitching.