Tekken 8 is right around the corner and fans couldn’t be more hyped to witness what seems to be the final confrontation between Jin Kazama and Kazuya Mishima.
The excitement is certainly building for Tekken 8. The Heat Meter system is a first when it comes to Bandai Namco’s fighting game, but are there more groundbreaking measures still to come?
In addition to learning more about the gameplay and character roster, Tekken faithful also have high hopes for crossplay finally arriving for the first time. Tekken 8 Director Katsuhiro Harada has addressed this most intriguing of questions.
Jin facing Kazuya in Tekken 8
Will Tekken 8 have crossplay?
It’s 100% confirmed that Tekken 8 will be incorporating crossplay into the franchise for the first time ever.
Harada responded to a tweet asking if crossplay would feature in the new Tekken installment. The legendary developer told fans that crossplay is indeed on the cards.
“Crossplay? Of course,” he wrote, before noting that he previously proposed cross-platform play at the start of the eighth-console generation. Apparently, they (presumably Sony and Microsoft) were at odds and wouldn’t budge on the matter.
Crossplay? Of course I will.BTWWhen the previous generation consoles were released, I had already proposed crossplay between the two platformers. However, at that time, they were at odds with each other over their mutual interests (and P2P security issue) & repeatedly refused. https://t.co/I8b38YfePh
— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) April 9, 2023
Harada then noted that even after platform holders began opening up to crossplay, “They didn’t actively support third parties at the time, and the hurdles were actually quite high.”
Remember when they announced they were open to crossplay a few years ago? But in reality, they didn’t actively support third parties at the time, and the hurdles were actually quite high.There are still some problems left, but it will be possible. https://t.co/8riL6p2lbf
— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) April 9, 2023
A couple of years ago, court documents from the Epic v Apple lawsuit claimed Sony was the biggest hurdle to overcome when pushing for crossplay in Fortnite across all platforms.
Allegedly, Sony counted as the only platform holder that charged developers for implementing cross-platform play. It’s unclear if this constitutes one of the “problems” Harada references in his recent tweets.