Tekken Is Going Strong, But Bandai Namco Still Has A Tough Competitor To Beat

Just a few months following the release of Tekken 7, producer Katsuhiro Harada is quite proud of the work his team has accomplished. And with its recent Tekken Bowl add-on and forthcoming DLC, the fighting action is sure to continue on for some time.

That said, though, Harada believes that the team still has one big competitor to overcome when it comes to dominating the fighting field – and that's Street Fighter.

Of course, Capcom's franchise has seen better days. Despite doing well within the fighting community with a number of new fighters under its belt, Street Fighter V turned off some fans with its partial initial release, with content being added later on. Still, Harada feels that there's a lot to overcome there – even though he's teamed with them in the past with Street Fighter x Tekken on Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3.

Speaking with Gamasutra, Harada explained that he's pleased with the game's progress, even if it does still need to "overcome the shadow of Street Fighter".

"We are always challenging ourselves. Not only in the number of copies sold or other financial records, but other objective data will attest that we have attained the top position in the genre, but data doesn't necessarily overwrite the recollection or perception of people (even when many people see the numbers and still refuse to acknowledge this fact out of personal emotions… I have seen this often).

We realized this soon after we gained the top share according to sales figures. Some people never change their opinion no matter how much data you show them. That's why we still fight to overcome the shadow of Street Fighter, the legendary game that started the genre. And also fight to surpass the specter of Virtua Fighter, another legendary series with many fans who love it."

As for how Tekken ended up on top, Harada said the reason was simple. "We didn't make our game because the genre was popular, or there was a revival. We decided more than 20 years ago that we wanted to create a game that is relevant, and that can maintain its relevance with its fan-base, so that's why we chased our rivals and worked so hard for so long. That is what Tekken is about."

Tekken 7 is available now for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC.

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