Tekken 8 Producer Discusses Return of Team Battle Mode

Packing dozens of popular former characters into a shiny and bold new package, Tekken 8 quickly became known as the best game in the series upon its release earlier this year. Although the title includes many callbacks to earlier Tekken games, one popular mode is missing, and executive producer Katsuhiro Harada recently addressed the elephant in the room in an interview with MP1st.

Team Battle Mode has been a fan-favorite for years, with its most popular iteration appearing in the 1995 arcade and PlayStation game Tekken 2. While many players have fond memories of the mode, Harada claims it might not be as popular as it seemed at the time.

“We’ve been conducting user surveys at considerable cost since the offline era of fighting games. Since the move to online, we’ve been analysing all kinds of data statistically,” Harada began. “While I’m sure that many have played the Team Battle mode with friends and family and have good memories associated with it, we found that it wasn’t played by players as much as the community might think.”

In Team Battle Mode, players would pick a series of characters before starting several fights. The winner was the player who successfully eliminated their opponent’s entire time.

“The Team Battle mode in Tekken 2 was played the most, but as the series progressed, it became less and less chosen. The Team Battle mode in Tekken 2 was played the most, but as the series progressed, it became less and less chosen. If the mode were to make a comeback, people might play it nostalgically for the first few times. However, when looked at from the perspective of the entire player base, many players will call for different content to be added instead of a mode that is not demanded for,” said Harada.

Unfortunately, Tekken 8 recently came under fire for implementing cosmetic microtransactions, with some outfits costing as much as $30.

Tekken 8 was released on January 26, 2024 for PC, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S. Extensive updates are planned, including DLC characters and crossovers.