Developer Bandai Namco Games is likely to announce the release date of its widely-anticipated fighting game “Tekken 7” exclusively on the PlayStation 4 in the upcoming San Diego Comic Con to be held on July 25.
Thus far, the only thing that Bandai Namco has officially announced with regards to “Tekken 7” is the fact that the video game shall be powered by Unreal 4 engine.
Almost two weeks ago, reports came out that too much leak on the new playable characters of “Tekken 7” once it is exclusively released to the PlayStation 4 later this year has prompted game developer Bandai Namco to re-assess and re-evaluate its fighting roster and strategy.
The gaming community is always on the lookout for leaks about upcoming video games particularly its gameplay, release dates, new features and characters, among others. “Tekken 7” is apparently not spared of them since it is one of the most anticipated fighting video game in Sony’s next generation gaming console.
On the part of Bandai Namco however, the leak just had too much impact on its strategy for the game that it had to rethink its options.
According to producer and series director Katsuhiro Harada, in his latest tweet, the leaks are such a nuisance to the “Tekken 7” development team. He also disclosed that Bandai Namco is changing character development as well as the timing of the release of the video game on the PlayStation 4.
Harada did not reveal anything specific about who or what characters in “Tekken 7” are they changing or the release date of the video game on Sony’s next gaming console, but it is obvious that he got piqued with so many leaks about the game coming out.
Leak got the better of the announcement
On March 29, Bandai Namco has added three new fighting characters to the arcade version of “Tekken 7” and even came up with distinct gameplay trailers to highlight the fighting styles of the three fighters.
The timing of the release was made in such a way that it marks the 20th anniversary of the series in Japan. Although he was the one who officially launched the three new characters of “Tekken 7,” Harada was a bit dismayed since one week before his official announcement, there were already leaks about it all over the internet and have already been feasted upon by the gaming community.
Harada identified the new characters as Jin Kazama, Devil Jin and Josie Rizal and they were rolled out to the arcade version one at a time starting with Jin Kazama on March 31 and Devil Jin on April 7. Josie Rizal has yet to be unveiled on the arcade version of “Tekken 7” as of this time.
Change of plans
Bandai Namco will not be participating in Japan’s Golden Week, which is a series of Japanese holidays beginning with the Showa Day on April 29.
The tweet of Harada already implied that they are not participating on the event in order to buy themselves time while they change the character development and release schedule of the characters in “Tekken 7.”
Mark Julio, a Filipino who is part of the Bandai Namco development team and who contributed to the creation of the Josie Rizal character, is obviously feeling the trivial controversy that the character he created has caused in the Philippines since the name was obviously taken from Jose Rizal, who is the country’s national hero.