During the finals of the 2014 Evolution Championship Series (Evo) fighting game tournament this past weekend, Namco Bandai announced Tekken 7. While few details were offered, the company did confirm that the new game will run on Unreal Engine 4, which should be a clear indication it’s coming to current generation consoles (PlayStation 4 and Xbox One). Speculation aside, Namco has promised more information on the upcoming title at its San Diego Comic-Con panel on July 25.
“The power and flexibility means that we can focus our efforts on making TEKKEN 7 the best possible game without worrying about spending time creating a stand-alone graphic engine,” said Katsuhiro Harada, Tekken series Executive Producer and Game Director. “With Unreal Engine 4, we could rapidly achieve visual quality expected on next-gen platform and go beyond it. Not only is Unreal Engine 4 powerful and easy to use, but it allows us to immediately bring Tekken 7 to any platform we desire.”
In the past Tekken has almost always been announced at an arcade show (generally AOU in Japan). This is one of the few times a Tekken title has been announced outside of such events. It’s also been tradition for Tekken games to see an arcade release before a home console port, but with the Tekken 7 announcement coming at Evo, it’s possible the platform release schedule may also change.
The Tekken team is working closely with the Epic Games engine group in Japan and leveraging the might of UE4, these two teams are fueling the next generation of fighting games.
“The Tekken franchise is beloved and we couldn’t be more excited to be working with the talented team at BANDAI NAMCO,” said Taka Kawasaki, Studio Head at Epic Games Japan. “This marriage is perfect – the most powerful engine in gaming along with one of the most enduring brands in fighting games. We have no doubt that these forces coming together will yield fantastic results.”
