Tekken 8 is facing a bit of backlash from the community after Bandai Namco added a DLC stage to the game with a price tag attached to it. To make matters worse, players still need to purchase the new stage with real-world money even if they own already pricey Year One Pass. Producer Katsuhiro Harada stepped in and released a statement apologising for the debacle while also openly criticising the way publisher Bandai Namco handles post-launch support.
Earlier this week, Heihachi Mishima was added into Tekken 8 along with a free story mode expansion. However, players were surprised to discover that the accompanying Genmaji Temple stage was being sold for $4.99. The Year One Pass doesn’t give you access to this stage, meaning the only way to acquire it is to pay real-world money for it. Naturally, this upset a lot of players since the last DLC character, Lidia Sobieska, received the free Sea Side Resort stage for all players.
The Tekken community has spoken up about the paywalled DLC stage, making some valid points too. The game itself and the DLC character pass already come with a premium price tag, so the addition of an extra $4.99 for a single stage is a bit disheartening, especially for those who’ve already committed to buying the Year One Pass or pricier editions of Tekken 8.
Katsuhiro Harada released a candid statement shortly after the fiasco gained traction on Tekken‘s subreddit, addressing the issue head-on. An excerpt from his statement reads:
“It was made clear from the beginning that the Year One Pass (Season Pass) would not include stages, but even so, when the Lidia Sobieska DLC was released, the [Sea Side Resort Stage was a Free Update], and in this case, the [Even though the additional Story Mode, which should have had the highest development costs, is a Free Update], BUT [the Genmaji stage was Sold Separately], and as a result, the release ended up being one that was not well understood or accepted by everyone (at least the almost all community was expecting a pattern similar to that of Lidia).”
From Harada’s standpoint, it’s easy to see how mismanaged expectations might’ve confused Tekken 8‘s post-launch rollout plan as it was never explicitly stated that stages would be made available with the season pass, though the free release of the Sea Side Resort stage gave the wrong impression to players.
That said, it’s also easy to see both sides of the argument – a sentiment echoed by Harada himself. “I think I failed to create an organisational structure that would allow me to oversee things beyond my own position,” he said in the statement. “One of my roles was to listen to the opinions of the Community and reflect them not only in the content but also in the out-game, but I was clearly becoming passive, worrying about the relationships between companies and not exercising my role.”
“From now on, I will review this structure and change it to one that values the community as it did in the past,” he added.
What this means for future Tekken 8 plans is anyone’s guess, though it seems like Harada might be doing some self-reflection about the fact that he ultimately has little control over the pricing of post-launch content – that decision falls to Bandai Namco.
Tekken 8 is available for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC.
Source: IGN
