Bandai Namco has revealed that they have hired Arika to work with them on the Tekken games.
Bandai Namco shared this statement regarding Akira’s involvement in the fighting game franchise, as translated by TKN GMR.
“We have reached an agreement to outsource the development of the Tekken series (publised by BANDAI NAMCO Entertainment Inc.) developed by our company to Arika Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as Arika), which is engaged in game development. In the future, we will utilize the technical knowledge of both parties to develop the Tekken series.
[Details of consignment work]
1. Update work
for “Tekken 7” We entrusted full development work to Arika for the update work of the game “Tekken 7” developed by our company.
*We are in charge of game balance items.
*Arika is in charge of updating software such as improving software, fixing bugs, and improving operability of online battles.
2. “Tekken 8” Partial work outsourcing
We will outsource the production work to improve the user experience to Arika, who has know-how on online battle algorithms and game response.”
In no uncertain terms, Bandai Namco’s statement indicates that they have hired Arika specifically to add their highly praised rollback netcode to the online gameplay systems for both Tekken 7 and the upcoming Tekken 8.
Arika did not invent or seemingly innovate on netcode. Rather, they seem to have received praise and distinction for being a comparatively smaller game studio, but still finding it worthwhile to develop rollback and implement it for their fighting game, Fighting EX Layer.
It should be noted that Japan’s fighting game developers have been holding a fighting game publisher roundtable, on public livestream, for the past few years. While technically competitors, these developers can also be said to be colleagues because they continue to make fighting games. They talk openly about their work with each other in sharing the common goal of making the genre more popular.
It was in one of these roundtables that Arika revealed their plans to implement rollback on Fighting EX Layer. Bandai Namco have been claiming they have been implementing their own version of rollback netcode. However, the FGC has seen in real time use, that it is not as effective at keeping competitive matches running smoothly compared to the netcode developed by other companies.
Fighting game fans are surely looking forward to Tekken 7 and Tekken 8 now running with rollback netcode they have tested and confirmed is up to their standards. We are also looking forward to what other surprises Bandai Namco have in store for Tekken 8.
This comes shortly after Nina was just revealed in a new trailer for Tekken 8. You can watch the trailer below.
You may note that Nina’s moveset now considerably includes her using guns. This is a shift from Nina using guns as a finisher mechanic, to Nina practicing full-on gun fu. As to the in-universe explanation of how Nina can keep shooting opponents in a fighting tournament without killing them, maybe she uses blanks?
Tekken 8 is planned for release on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows via Steam.
