The Tekken franchise is celebrating its 30th anniversary this year as it was back in December of 1994 that first installment came out for the PlayStation. Since that time we’ve seen seven additional main entries, a myriad of spin-off or handheld Tekkens, and plenty of film and television adaptations.
While it surely isn’t the only fighting game that’s stood this particular test of time, Tekken is far and away the most prominent 3D fighting experience around right now. In a new interview with VG 24/7, producer Katsuhiro Harada laments this fact.
Of course, one has to bring up Soul Calibur, a franchise that admittedly hasn’t reached the same heights as Tekken, but has had a lasting impact on the 3D fighting game space.
The fellow Bandai Namco series saw its sixth installment drop back in 2018. It was widely appreciated by fans and wound up with over 2 million sales, but it’s telling when we see that Tekken 8 reached 2 million sales in about a month’s time and predecessor Tekken 7 wound up at over 10 million.
And so it doesn’t feel inappropriate when VG 24/7 asked Harada how he feels about being the “last man standing” in the 3D fighting game space. His response was as follows:
“It’s kind-of sad that we’re the only 3D fighting game, because 3D and 2D are just so drastically different,” starts Harada. “Back in the day, like you said, there were more games, but after a while you’d stop seeing them. With 2D fighters sometimes you’ll see more indie developers creating them, but that doesn’t happen with 3D fighters. So yeah, when you look around it’s just Tekken, it’s kind of unfortunate right? “
He goes on to mine some positives out of the scene, pointing to three key pillars that he feels set Tekken apart from other similar ventures.
“As for the reason why, I think it’s because there are probably three pillars that set Tekken apart,” continues Harada. “That would be the actual creative side of it, which is done by the development team. Then there’s the marketing, as well – how do we market the game worldwide effectively, etc. Then there’s the community side of it!” he finishes.
We strongly urge you to check out the full interview (linked above) as Harada and fellow long time Tekken producer Michael Murray have plenty more to say about the legacy of the 30 year old franchise.
Both wish they could return to simpler times when game development was a good bit less complex and great bit less expensive, and suppose they might have one more entry in them after Tekken 8 (Harada has spoken about the potential of retirement after Tekken 9 previously).
Let us know in the comments what you think about Tekken’s legacy thus far, the 3D fighting game scene as it stands today, and what you hope to see from it in the future.