Tekken 8 developer Bandai Namco has been drip-feeding out new character reveal trailers over the past few months as it ramps up to the fighter’s release. However, Bandai has yet to actually announce when exactly Tekken 8 will be in players’ hands. We’re not any closer to that info, but we may know about an upcoming playtest if a recent Steam listing is to be believed. A new listing popped up on SteamDB for a “Tekken 8 Playtest.” It’s not yet known exactly what this will be, but seeing it hit Steam likely signifies that we’re very close to getting hands-on with a demo version of Tekken 8.
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It would certainly make a lot of sense for some type of demo version to come out soon for Tekken 8. Again, Bandai Namco hasn’t announced a release date, but the constant release of character trailers definitely lines up with a 2023 launch. If they’re targeting some time in the fall, a summer demo would perfectly fit the usual timetable. Plus, with Street Fighter 6 and Mortal Kombat 1 either releasing this summer or having a large presence at Summer Game Fest, it would be a great way to keep Tekken 8 on the front of fighting game players’ minds.
Of course, until Bandai Namco actually says something, you’ll want to take this rumor with a grain of salt. Sure, everything points to this being legitimate, but developers change plans all the time. If something happens during development that forces the team to push things back a bit, we might not see this playtest any time soon. That said, knowing it should come eventually.
When it does, it’ll be interesting to see which characters Bandai Namco decides to include. Jin Kazam and Kazuya Mishima seem nearly guaranteed. After all, they were the two characters featured in the announcement trailer. There are currently 13 other characters known to be in the game, including recent additions in Hwoarang and Bryan Fury. They might just include the whole gang, but we would guess the initial test will be a more curated list to keep things a bit simpler for the team, with future tests adding more characters.ย