Katsuhiro Harada tells us how Tekken 8 intends to bring former fans back to the franchise

Tekken prides itself for its record of being the longest-running video game story, with a consecutive narrative stretching almost 30 years. But while that's impressive, it's also no doubt a very overwhelming process for those new to the series or those who haven't played a Tekken game in years. With the upcoming eighth mainline instalment set to debut in January 2024, we had the chance to catch up with the iconic and veteran Tekken developer, Katsuhiro Harada, to learn how Tekken 8 is intending to appeal to this audience.

"The arcade quest is kind of designed to appeal to people who are, you know, lapsed Tekken players, I guess we could say, and we want to make it appeal to a large audience, so not only people in their 50s like myself who played Tekken back in the day, but also be a valuable experience for newcomers to the series," said Harada. "And one of the ways we do this is it actually kind of recreates the atmosphere of the arcade, so for, you know, people in their 50s or whatever, like myself, they're like, wow, I was there, it feels just like that, I kind of miss that, and maybe it motivates them to try to, you know, feel that excitement again."

Harada continues, "But for newcomers who didn't get to experience it, because in North America, Europe, you don't really have arcades like they used to be, so although it is kind of an old style experience, it feels new to them because they never experienced it firsthand. We're hoping that we can appeal to a large variety of different players, and that, you know, as they're playing through the mode, it's teaching them the fundamentals and getting them up to speed on how to play the game."

You can catch the full interview with Harada below for even more information on Tekken 8 ahead of its launch on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series consoles on January 26, 2024.