With the announcement of Lidia’s return following the release of Eddy Gordo,Tekken 8’s post-launch support seems set to be in full swing. Discussion surrounding the title shifted towards pushback after unexpected monetization found its way intoTekken 8after its initial review period, but Bandai Namco might be able to restore the good faith it initially built upon release by offering some future DLC fighters free of charge.
There’s undoubtedly large budgets that go into the creation of a completed character in any popular fighting game, but it’s still not unheard of for developers to offer free updates.Melty Blood: Type Lumina, while a smaller scale project, saw significant improvements to its player impressions over time through offering every piece of DLC for free. This might be harder to pull off in a AAA3D fighting game series likeTekken, but would also make it an even bigger gesture as a result.
Offering Free DLC Could Help Diffuse the Pay-to-Win Debate About New Characters
The Price Tag of DLC Characters Has Often Reflected Their Power
While it’s not necessarily fair to say that studios create imbalanced fighting game metas on purpose, there’s also been aconsistent trend ofTekkenDLC fightersbeing highly dominant upon release in a way that incentivizes their purchase. This has led to situations like the top bracket of a tournament being mostly filled by Leroy players, or an Eddy player attaining a decent online rank largely through the help of a single move. Patches tend to address these problems eventually, but DLC characters have gained a somewhat negative reputation for their potency.
Free DLC Could Serve to Level the Playing Field
If a new fighter was made available free of cost inTekken 8, they wouldn’t have as much pressure on them regarding balance. Releasing an extremely powerful character for free wouldn’t be as unfair, although it still risks homogeneity. In turn, this always leaves the room to implement a more lacklusterfighting game joke charactercapable of bringing charm without making players feeling cheated.
Fighters like Mokujin Are an Obvious Compromise for Free DLC
A Nostalgic Mimic Character is a Safe Option
With brand-newfree content updates coming toTekken 8, the addition of any past mimic fighters could potentially require even less work while still yielding a strong result. The likes of Mokujin and Combot are characters with their own fanbases despite their simple reuse of moves from other members of the roster, and they would be simple to implement as a result. This makes these training dummies and their variations all prime candidates for a complementary DLC fighter, as it’s unlikely they would ever receive actual movesets of their own. Their gimmicky lack of originality may deter some players, but these mimics have endearing supporters due to their lasting legacy. Series creator Katsuhiro Harada even posted a poll about Mokujin earlier this year on X/Twitter in which fans voted yes to the character’s addition:
Fully Unique Fighters for Free Would Provide the Boost in Reception Tekken 8 Needs
It’s hard to imagine that Bandai Namco would go out of its way to provide fans with totally original characters for free, but this may also be the most effective way for the game to recover from the change in perception it has received due to its DLC practices. Only time will tell whether the game chooses to double down on its Battle Pass strategy instead, but the wide variety ofcharacters excluded fromTekken 8provides plenty of time for someone to come free one day.
Tekken 8
WHERE TO PLAY
Tekken 8 brings the fight to the latest generation of consoles, powered by Unreal Engine 5. Feel the power of every hit in Tekken 8, the latest entry in the legendary fighting game franchise from Bandai Namco. Utilising the power and realism of Unreal Engine 5, Tekken 8 pushes the envelope for fighting games by taking full advantage of the power of the latest generation of consoles. Ground-breaking new features, breathtakingly detailed character models and dramatic environments make this one of the most visually stunning and immersive titles in the genre yet. Tekken 8 picks up after the gruesome battle that ended in Heihachi Mishima’s defeat in Tekken 7, focusing on a new rivalry, pitting father against son as Jin Kazama stands in defiance against Kazuya Mishima in a city-shattering face-to-face showdown.
