Tekken 8 launches new battle pass system – fans are not amused

Fighting game Tekken 8 has announced the introduction of a battle pass system, to the dismay of the game’s fans.

In a recent Tekken Talk Livestream, Tekken 8 developers confirmed that a new battle pass system, known as the Tekken Fight Pass, will be coming to the game. Like other battle passes in similar gaming franchises, the Tekken Fight Pass will allow players to obtain special items by completing various challenges during a limited period of time.

Players can already purchase characters as separate DLC packs. However, the introduction of the Tekken Fight Pass has not gone down well with some gamers, protesting having to spend more money after spending a minimum of $69.99 for the most basic version of the eighth game in the series.

The Fight Pass can be purchased with 600 Tekken Coins but there’s no release date yet confirmed.

In particular, long-time fans of Tekken 8 see a lot of the content being repurposed from earlier games. One fan took to X to complain, writing: “Extremely lazy fightpass. Definitely won’t be paying for stuff already available in past games just being repurposed to nickle and dime us. T6 should have been the standard for customizations but no. You guys just got lazy.”

Others took umbrage with the basic principle of needing to pay more money for content on a game at that price point, with another X user writing: “I was fine with the Tekken shop, but a paid battle pass is insane for a $70 game.”

Over on reddit, user MonroeHanlon pointed out that waiting to announce the battle pass until over a month after release is “scummy”.

“I love this game, I really do,” they continued. “I play it almost everyday with my friends, and I lab for hours to get better at it. I want to continue to love this game, but it gets harder every update because of s**t like this.

“To reiterate, if you are going to defend MTX and the Fight Pass, you have to at the least admit that withholding the information about both was a deliberate choice.”

Some gamers have pushed back against the criticism, reasoning that there’s no requirement to buy the battle pass. However, the loudest voices claim that consumers have been duped, with too many microtransactions and premium content to make the $69.99 price tag feel worthwhile.

This isn’t the first time Tekken 8 has been forced to face criticism from fans, after a colorblind filter needed to be removed after causing seizures among players.

Featured image: Bandai Namco Studios

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