Tekken 8 Releases New Update, Here’s What It Does

The newest 2.04 patch for Tekken 8 has finally been released for players, introducing a variety of changes. In addition to content and new features, the update coincided with a ban wave against players “engaging in unauthorized activities.” A whopping 36 costumes have been added to the Tekken Shop, purchasable through two different packs, and some quality-of-life changes have been added to various gameplay features.

The first change players will notice is that online replays and downloaded replays created before the update will no longer be playable. The behavior of ghost data will also be modified to accommodate the update’s performance adjustments.

Unfortunately, the update does not contain any balance adjustments for its characters, with the patch notes stating that the team didn’t want to disrupt “multiple major esports tournaments scheduled for August.”

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Now in the Tekken Shop with 2.04, there are two new content packs available, themed around summer costumes:

• Seaside Pack: 25 character-specific swimsuit costumes
• Beach Fun Pack: 11 character-specific swimsuit costumes

The update patch notes mention that the packs do not include “costumes for Kuma, Panda, or any additional playable characters released from Armor King onward.” Coinciding with the release of these new costumes, the game is having a “Tekken Special Deal” event from now until August 19th. During the event promotion, in-game Tekken Coin currency prices for a few costumes, packs, and avatar skins will be discounted.

Next, the update introduces changes and additional features to various aspects of the game. These 2.04 update categories include:

• Tekken Fight Lounge
  • Five Special Ghosts with Character Panels Appear
  • Defeat each Special Ghost after speaking to them to obtain one unique character panel.
  • The character panels feature fan art submitted through the “TEKKEN FANDOM Campaign.”
  • The Special Ghosts will appear in the lobby until the update scheduled for September.
• Practice, Versus Modes
  • Added Filter Function to Photo Mode
  • Added a “Color Mask Adjustment” option to the filter function.
  • Allows the background color to be changed to a specified color.
  • Note: Some features in Photo Mode may be unavailable depending on the battle situation.
• Practice
  • Added “Throw Break Training”
    • A new feature that allows players to practice throw escapes by setting the difficulty level and the opponent’s throw moves.
  • Added Shortcut Key to Set Opponent in Power-Up State
    • In this state, the opponent cannot guard and any hit will be a counter hit, allowing for effective counter hit combo practice.
• Online Matches
  • Changed Win-Loss Display on Result Screen
    • The result screen after online matches will now display the number of wins as numeric values alongside the star icons.
• Quick Match/Group Match/Tekken Ball/Player Match
  • Changed Win-Loss Display on Result Screen
    • In consecutive matches, the result screen after online matches will now show the win-loss record for up to the last 20 matches.
    • – Numeric display will count up to a maximum of 999.
• Player Match
  • Changed Result Screen Specifications
    • When the win condition is set to “1 Win,” the result screen will now appear after online matches.
    • Shortcut buttons for “Follow” and “Friend Request” will now appear on the result screen after the match ends.

In an X post, the Tekken team explained the mechanism behind its latest ban wave, and promised to increase account suspension measures to deal with rule violators in the future.

The developers also promise that the next update, September’s version 2.05, will focus primarily on “bug fixes and related improvements.”

Tekken 8 has been attempting to slowly recover fan perception after a widely disliked Season 2 update in April, which led to an influx of negative review scores upon its release on Steam. Will this new update be enough to satisfy returning players, or do the developers need to do more to win players back?