Key points
- Tekken 8 is the latest game to experience fan wrath, having gone to “Mixed” on Steam following the release of Heihachi.
- The anger is due to having to pay an additional $4.99 for a level linked to the DLC, which is not included in the Year 1 Pass.
- One after another the negative reviews filtered in, while Katsuhiro Harada took to Twitter to personally apologize.
Two things are certain when it comes to video games. Fans will show up for a high-quality release and will go to the ends of the earth to make their voices heard when they are dissatisfied. Fortunately and unfortunately, Tekken 8 is going through both of these things.
That's because after launching in January to critical acclaim and fanfare, those same fans took to Steam to express their displeasure with the game's DLC practices. Those rumors landed the game “Mixed” on Steam, with negative reviews filtering in one after another.
The Stage DLC shocked fans
For what it's worth, these negative reviews didn't come out of nowhere. After the release of the Heihachi DLC, Genmaji Temple, a level linked to the DLC, was and still is sold for an additional $4.99. It is not part of the game's Year 1 Pass, which costs players $39.99.
This alone angered fans, believing they were being nickel and dimed by Bandai Namco. Executive producer Katsuhiro Harada even took to Twitter to personally apologize for the debacle, going so far as to say that he would overhaul the organizational structure so that it “values the community as it has in the past.”
However, it apparently isn't enough. Moving on to the Steam storefront, review after review largely echoes the same sentiments. “It saddens me to have to leave a negative review on such a fun game, but Bandai Namco keeps trying to squeeze more and more money out of the player base, and it's infuriating,” one review reads in part.
“You are greedy and I will not pay 5 euros more for a level that should have been free with the Heihachi DLC,” reads another review. “You guys are greedy and have no respect for your players.”
It is unclear at this point whether Bandai Namco will reverse course and offer the stage DLC for free. Of course, it would have faced further backlash from the people who bought it, although it would certainly help calm things down. Regardless, what was supposed to be a momentous occasion with Heihachi's return turned sour very quickly.
