‘Tekken 7’ Trailer: Harada Talks PC Port, ESports Scene, And Characters, Alongside New Cinematic Trailer


Tekken 7 producer Katsuhiro Harada has opened up with insight on the latest installment in the series.

Players in Japan have enjoyed Tekken 7 in arcades, but those with consoles at home are still anxiously awaiting a release date for the highly-anticipated title. New characters have entered the fray, mainly the Street Fighter series’ iconic character Akuma.

In a report by GameSpot, fans learned Harada’s thoughts on Tekken 7 when it comes to various aspects of the game. The main inquiries seem to come from those who are looking for a console version of the game, as not much information has been released in terms of when we can expect to go head-to-head from the couch.

While Harada didn’t touch on a release date, he had this to say in regards to the difference between the arcade version and the home version.

“Obviously we don’t want to change the formula people expect. That said, with all the Tekken games, we always add extra content. One of the big features is the story mode, in addition to the arcade mode. Other modes, for example, consist of some type of gallery that allow you to catch up on story elements of the past installments.”

It looks as though the wait is going to come with content that will make up for the delay. This isn’t the first time a game has hit arcades with no sign of a console version in sight. This is sometimes expected with fighting games, especially those that could see a high amount of gameplay on the tournament scene. Games like Tekken 7 are part of event lineups, and perhaps that’s the main focus; Street Fighter V was much the same way. This could bring the question as to whether or not Tekken 7 will see a rough release like SFV, but Harada is pushing the game’s story mode and its importance.

A new “Your Story, Your Fight” trailer has been released for Tekken 7, as well. In it, we see that the fight continues and that Akuma will play a large role in the story. This is new for the Tekken series, as the demon of Street Fighter will not merely be there for cosmetics. According to Game Rant, it appears that the trailer hints at a story that will revolve around the Mishima family once again.

Arcade and console players aren’t the only ones who will be getting Tekken 7. PC users will also be getting the game. Harada touched on his expectation for PC and its community.

“Before, we used to do a lot for Sony’s hardware first. The hurdle to porting to PC afterward was quite high at that time. Since we’re developing the game on PC from the start using Unreal Engine, it made it much easier to release a PC version. There are also many markets in which many gamers prefer PC rather than console.”

Those in the eSports scene will have equal opportunity to pick the game up both on PC and console, offering equal advantage. While the game is available in arcades, Harada admitted that he feels that players currently have limited amounts of time with Tekken 7.

“We feel that eSports is becoming increasingly popular, but the players have limited time with the game. So we’re hoping that that’s going to change quite a bit after the release on console and PC in early 2017. We think that we’re starting off slow, but after the release date things will start to pick up.”

Tekken 7 also seems to sport a certain growth among characters, another subject that Katsuhiro Harada touched on. He had this to say in regards to character development and the continuation of the story.

“In typical story modes in other fighting games, you merely load the game, each character says one or two lines to each other before the battle, then you go into the standard battle with the timer from the same position all the time. All the same rules apply from them fighting,” Harada began. “We tried to change that, so the circumstances at the beginning of the fight might change: the relation of you to your opponent distance-wise, maybe your health or the status of the stage. All these things were done to make the game feel very immersive. Whatever is going on in the cinematics shifts straight into the in-game scene, and then straight into the gameplay itself. You’re not thrown into the standard battle. That’s really what we focus on changing this time for story mode.”

This has been a desire among fans for quite a while now. Games like Mortal Kombat X and Capcom Vs. SNK 2 pull this off especially well. If the continued console and PC development are any indication, Tekken 7 will be tailored to players on console and make the wait worthwhile.

[Featured Image by Bandai Namco]

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