Announced officially back in September 2022, Tekken 8 looks set to take another step forward in the fighting games genre, reasserting its dominance on the new generation of consoles and PC. Street Fighter 6 looks certain to beat Tekken 8 to the punch in terms of release, launching June 2, 2023, but the latter’s popularity is expected to vault it back into the lead when it eventually releases.
In the meantime, without an official release window – let alone a release date – set, Tekken 8 continues to drip-feed us gameplay footage. Most recently, the classic character Marshall Law received his showpiece gameplay video, and he’s more Bruce Lee than ever before. Importantly, the rate of reveals has sped up significantly, so we may not be far from the highly anticipated release date reveal.
Channelling Bruce Lee more than ever before
Bandai Namco Studios have never hidden its inspirations when it comes to Marshall Law. He’s clearly drawn from Bruce Lee, and Tekken 8’s gameplay video only further reinforces this thinking. He makes chirps, wipes his nose, he performs the “come and get it” hand gesture, and even points his finger. Given how wildly popular and iconic Bruce Lee remains to this day, it makes sense to lean into his persona.
The Hong Kong-American martial artist, instructor, and actor is still credited as being a major influence on MMA coming into existence, famously creating his own discipline of Jeet Kune Do. Drawing from many martial arts, having trained in Wing Chun under the legendary Yip Man, his moves became legendary both in martial arts circles and then, later, on the big screen.
Bruce Lee certainly isn’t short of adoration even to this day. Being so iconic in his films and as a person, he’s often used in modern entertainment. In the bingo and slot gaming arena, WMS created a slot solely based on Bruce Lee, naming it after the martial arts legend and pumping it full of high-power features like expanding wilds and high volatility mechanics.
On top of the dedicated Bruce Lee slot and Marshall Law in Tekken 7, Bruce Lee also features in the TV show Warrior from the creator of the superb series Banshee, Jonathan Tropper. Loaded with hand-to-hand combat and an excellent story, Andrew Koji’s Ah Sahm draws a lot from Bruce Lee, especially because the series is based on an original concept and treatment made by Lee himself.
Is Tekken 8 speeding toward a big reveal?
On the PlayStation YouTube channel, Bandai has released seven Tekken 8 reveal videos, as of the time of writing, from the huge and official announcement on September 13, 2022, to the Marshall Law gameplay video on March 14, 2023. Between each new video, the time between has continued to shorten.
Perhaps speeding up anticipation and news blasts as they go, there was an 87-day gap between the Announcement Trailer and then the Story Teaser. Just 59 days later, out came the Nina gameplay, followed by Kazuya gameplay just 15 days after. Then, nine days later, it was Jin’s gameplay. Paul Phoenix was showcased eight days after that, and then it only took four days for Law to be revealed.
Based on the Teaser video released late last year, there are four more character videos to come. Jack 8, King, Lars, and possibly Jun Kazama are on the way with gameplay videos. After those, which may arrive quite soon at the current rate, perhaps it’ll be time to declare a firm release date for Tekken 8.
Most outlets are predicting a 2024 release date for Tekken 8, but the rate that these videos are coming out might suggest that an announcement is coming soon. If we are lucky, Tekken 8 might just arrive before the end of the year.
