The development of “Tekken 7” seems to be coming along nicely, and the next game in the iconic franchise is getting closer and closer to completion. While the sequel was announced more than a year ago, there hasn’t been much on the news front surrounding it, much to the disappointment of fans. But now, we’ve been getting reports that the first location test of the game is going to take place in Japan in just a few weeks, and even though it’s only scheduled for a couple of days, we’re confident that fans will get a pretty solid impression of what’s coming.
The testing is scheduled for several specific locations, such as Namcho Sugamo (Tokyo), as well as the Round One Stadium, according to reports, and fans should get a good chance to get their own hands on the title during the testing period. According to the current plans, that will be between February 12 and 14, and this length of time should give fans of the franchise a relatively good opportunity to see what the next installment will be really about and how well the developers have done their job.
Location tests are somewhat unique to the Japanese gaming market, as they tend to be aimed at people who love arcade games, a trend that is fading away in other parts of the world. A lot can be said about the purpose of these tests and many developers seem to agree that they are vital to the success of a title, as they are more or less analogous to public beta tests for games released on other platforms. Gamers from other countries, especially Western ones, have been a bit more skeptical to the idea of location tests, but as long as it suits the needs of the developers and produces good results that aid the polishing of the gameplay, it should be a good move.
Considering that the game is coming to arcades in about two months, the timing is pretty appropriate, as it will give the developers an ample opportunity to fine-tune the balance and sort out any bugs before the game is made public. It’s worth noting that arcades are a bit of a different story compared to regular gaming consoles, as supporting titles on them can be more difficult and therefore developers tend to pay more attention to properly polishing their releases for arcade games as opposed to their titles on other platforms.
The game is currently also supposed to come out on the PlayStation 4, but no details have been given about the developer’s schedule for that platform, so we don’t know when to expect it. There has been some suspicion among fans that the announcement for the location tests of the game’s arcade version is a good sign for the future and it possibly means that we’re going to see a release date for the PlayStation 4 relatively soon as well, but this is just speculation.
The two versions of the game could be developed in different styles anyway, so it doesn’t make that much sense to assume that they will share similar development schedules and that the location testing for one version is indicative of any developments on the front of the other. Especially when it comes to Bandai Namco, a company that tends to do some more unusual things with their development process and can sometimes deliver interesting surprises to their fans, especially when it comes to more major titles.