The developers of Tekken 8 will release an “emergency patch” later this month, in response to players furious over the balance changes brought to the game’s second season.
Even before the second season, Tekken 8 was criticised by players for its aggressive gameplay that lacked the more technical aspects of previous entires. In the patch notes for the latest update, released earlier this week, Bandai Namco acknowledged the prevalence of “one-sided match developments” and detailed a string of changes intended to re-balance the game.
However, community feedback to the changes has been overwhelmingly negative, leading to an “emergency patch” and other fixes on the way.
The patch – scheduled for mid to late April – will tweak two moves in particular for Paul and Jack-8, which both have unintentional uninterruptable effects.
“The causes of the two high-priority issues shown in the image have been identified, and fixes are currently underway,” a thread on social media reads.
“Additionally, we are also working on identifying and fixing the causes of other behaviour-related character issues and a malfunction in the Options settings.”
The patch will additionally “include some of the adjustment items previously announced in the patch notes under ‘Future Adjustments’, notably the throw break chip damage change.”
Further changes are also promised, based on feedback from the community.
Tekken boss Katsuhiro Harada wrote on social media: “In any case, it is clear to me that the result is a disconnect between what the community wants and the tuning results. I understand that whatever words I may be accused by the community about it, that is not the essential issue and it is not the time to worry about it. We have our Battle & Tuning team working around the clock to read through all the feedback logs from the community and work on future policies and changes for the better.”
In any case, it is clear to me that the result is a disconnect between what the community wants and the tuning results.
I understand that whatever words I may be accused by the community about it, that is not the essential issue and it is not the time to worry about it.
We have… https://t.co/gDG0reL6DJ— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) April 3, 2025
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Perhaps, though, these changes are arriving too late. Many pro players are already threatening to leave the game entirely due to the balance issues (thanks IGN).
“I have been optimistic about this game and the balancing direction since release but it feels like enough is enough and we’ve definitely reached that point. This does not feel like Tekken AT ALL,” wrote pro player JoKa on social media.