The honeymoon phase for Tekken 8 players has ended. After all he positive buzz Bandai Namco’s latest 3D brawler received following its January 26 launch, the game is slowly spiraling down the drain as its Steam rating has dropped from “mostly positive” to “mixed” now that its controversial battle pass is out.
Read More: Even Tekken 8 Has A Battle Pass Now, And Players Aren’t Happy
The “Tekken Fight Pass,” Bamco’s official name for the game’s battle pass, went live on April 1 alongside the introduction of capoeira king Eddy Gordo. The feature operates like a traditional battle pass in something like Fortnite, with free and paid tracks that let you unlock various in-game items during a specified period. Naturally, fans weren’t laughing at this very serious and very unfunny April Fool’s Day joke, with folks across Reddit and X/Twitter dragging Bamco for what many have called predatory microtransactions, especially since many of the best rewards are in the paid track. Now, with frustrations reaching new heights, Tekken 8 players have jumped from Reddit and Twitter to Steam to review-bomb the hell out of the game.
Tekken 8‘s Fight Pass has ‘riveting content,’ not
Many of the most recent reviews on Tekken 8‘s Steam page are very negative. One player with over 140 hours in the game said Bandai Namco “managed to kill every good mechanic” in Tekken 8 while “shoving in corporate greed at its finest.” Another player with just 20 hours in the game said the battle pass is “one of the worst I’ve seen in a long time.” A third person with 76 hours in the game said this could’ve been the best Tekken game if Bamco didn’t “spend their time, resource and efforts to monetize their game with god tier awful batlepass rewards and that stupid what ever tekken shop [sic].”
This all came to a head around the April 5 weekend when players discovered that a stock asset, a grey-white Unity Engine ball, was purchasable in the paid tier of the Tekken Fight Pass. This little orb does nothing but float around your character’s body, leaving many in the community absolutely gagged by what the publisher is selling. Folks were so angered by this that one of the most engaged Reddit posts was from user shizakaLand, who said “riveting content in the battle pass” on April 1, accompanied by an image of the ball. Despite how much fun folks say they’ve had with Tekken 8, they really hate this battle pass.
Kotaku has reached out to Bandai Namco for comment.
Read More: Tekken 8 Players Beg For A Waffle House Stage
To be honest, it’s all a huge bummer. Tekken 8‘s core gameplay, the actual fighting mechanics, are solid. They’re more accessible than any Tekken game before it, doing away with what are often cited as the franchise’s “anti-beginner” tendencies. Of course, you could just ignore the battle pass. That’s my plan. However, with Bandai Namco Entertainment adding these microtransactions after launch and reportedly targeting a fan-run mod website with copyright strikes, it’s really starting to feel like it’s the studio versus the players.
