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Tekken 8 Releases Balance Adjustment Policy To Course Correct S2 issues

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Tekken 8

Namco Bandai issued a statement addressing the balance issue corrections introduced in Tekken 8 Season 2. These corrections will be part of a series of course-correcting emergency updates aimed at mitigating the negative impact these changes have had on the game overall. Despite the release of the first Year 2 DLC character, Anna, Steam player numbers for Tekken 8 dropped significantly following the 2.00 update. Some had predicted these challenges after the developer talk last month, prior to the release of these changes.

If It’s Broken, Please Fix It

Certain characters received buffs to address their weaknesses, along with new moves added to their sets. However, these changes led to gameplay glitches, sparking an outcry from players against Tekken 8. The adjustments heavily emphasized Tekken 8’s offensive gameplay, creating a more aggressive system. The new Heat system, introduced to the Tekken franchise, has faced criticism for its mechanics. Some character engagers provide excessive momentum, undermining the ability to counter effectively.

Even move tracking has been negatively impacted by the changes. The adjustments have varied across characters, resulting in mixed outcomes: some characters, like Hwoarang, excel with overtuned stance tools; others, such as King and Lili, perform exceptionally well with buffs that disrupt neutral play; while some, like Feng and newcomer Shaheen, struggle to compete effectively due to insufficient updates.

Ahead of May’s planned updates, Tekken 8 received its first emergency updates yesterday, between 9:00 PM and 10:00 PM EST.

You can take a look at Namco Bandai’s response to the issues here.

【Balance Adjustment Policy for Ver.2.00.02】

The development team acknowledges that following the Season 2 (Ver.2.00) update, the overall game balance has shifted too heavily toward offense.

We sincerely apologize that the actual balance changes did not align with the development intentions and policy previously communicated to players.

We deeply regret not being able to address the improvements and adjustments that the community had hoped for.

Moving forward, we are committed to distinguishing between issues that can be addressed quickly, and issues that require more time and community feedback for proper review.

We will implement a step-by-step update process to improve the game experience.

In this upcoming update, we will fix known issues and begin a balance review based on the following policy (The patch notes for Ver.2.00.02 are scheduled to be released shortly before the update, around 10:30 AM [JST] on Thursday, April 17.)
:

(1) Increased the maximum health value to help mitigate situations where matches are decided through overly one-sided momentum.
In light of the current damage environment trending toward inflation—driven by offense-heavy game balance and increased aerial combo damage—the maximum health value will be increased. This adjustment is intended to ease situations where matches are too easily decided by one-sided momentum.

(2) Gradual Adjustments to Overly High-Reward Moves
This update addresses the overall inflation of attack strength and combo damage by implementing adjustments that can be done quickly to moves that provide excessive reward.
We recognize this as a game-wide issue rather than a problem limited to specific characters, and we plan to continue reviewing and tuning these aspects progressively.

Examples of adjustments included in this update:
– Balance adjustments to high-performance moves that can repeatedly create advantageous situations and lead to one-sided gameplay.
– Adjustments to moves with disproportionately high reward compared to their risk, ensuring fairer risk-reward balance.

(3) Rebalancing the Offensive and Defensive Aspects of the Heat System
Currently, the benefits gained by the attacking player through the Heat System are considered too great.

The following adjustments have been made:
– Revised damage scaling when using Heat Dash to suppress combo damage inflation.
– Adjusted frame advantage on hit for Heat Engagers, maintaining benefits for the attacker while allowing the defender more opportunities to respond.

Additionally, adjustments have been made to chip damage as follows:
– Reduced additional chip damage during Heat.
– Changed the system so that moves which already deal chip damage do not receive extra chip damage while in Heat state.
*Future updates will also include adjustments to the amount of chip damage dealt by individual moves.

【Future Balance Adjustments】
In the next update planned for mid-May, adjustments will include reducing air combo damage and reevaluating the performance of Heat Burst.

Additionally, we will continue to review issues that could not be addressed in this update, such as:
– moves that consistently create advantageous situations leading to one-sided matches
– attacks with disproportionately high rewards relative to their risk.

Moving forward, we remain committed to incorporating player feedback and will focus on resolving cases of overly dominant character performance and interactions that result in one-sided gameplay.

The community at large did not approve of the changes as they were presented, resulting in a backlash even through Twitter/X from pros to just about anyone who is playing

The Community Sounded Off

Tekken champion Arslan Ash was very vocal about his stance.

Knee also chimed in to lambast the changes, stating that this was now a selfish game. The 3 time Evo champ went in with receipts to discuss this.

 

Fixing One Side Step At A Time

The expectation is that the Tekken Project team will address these issues gradually, rather than resolving everything overnight. The team has reiterated their commitment to listening to fans. However, it was previously noted that some producers of the game had blocked Twitter accounts that voiced complaints. For example, producer Michael Murray blocked content creator MrsPlayStuff after she critiqued the game’s Season 2 changes.

Tekken Project producer Katsuhiro Harada has also responded to some comments regarding the backlash, aiming to reassure fans that steps are being taken to fix Tekken 8. Known for his candid interactions, Harada famously stated, “Don’t ask me for shit.” His responsiveness to fan feedback has been evident, and I’ve personally observed this in action.

With the Tekken World Tour 2025 season start on the horizon, the proposed changes are sorrowly needed sooner than later.

Kevin Kelly

Kevin's a budding game journalist with history on a few blogs, a retro collector, and Virtua Fighter 5 head, Kevin is no slouch on a runback. Kevin is a deep geek on various traits, loves several artbooks, classic hip hop and Japanese culture. Good with either his Hori Fighting Commander pad, pen, or brush.