Tekken 7 Announced, Runs on Unreal 4

Early this morning,  Bandai Namco and Epic Games announced that Tekken 7 was in development for Xbox One and PlayStation 4. Epic games?! That’s right, the next Tekken game is being built in Unreal 4, and is said to be using everything that engine offers in order to make a visually stunning, quick-paced fighting title.

Gone are the days where following the story of Tekken was easy. People have died and have been revived, discovered they have god-like powers and have had those powers taken away… It’s all a bit heavy-handed for a franchise that’s primarily about bashing another person. Despite all that, the deceivingly simple trailer still manages to send a shiver or two down the spine – looks like things are going to be getting pretty real this time around.

Visually, it’s difficult to judge – the video is fairly stylized, a teaser trailer to boot, and it’s not especially easy to see details that are specifically standing out. It’s nice, for sure, but until we see gameplay it’s probably going to be best to reserve judgement.

From the press release:

“The power and flexibility means that we can focus our efforts on making TEKKEN 7 the best possible game without worrying about spending time creating a stand-alone graphic engine,” said Katsuhiro Harada, TEKKEN series Executive Producer/Game Director at BANDAI NAMCO. “With Unreal Engine 4, we could rapidly achieve visual quality expected on next-gen platform and go beyond it. Not only is Unreal Engine 4 powerful and easy to use, but it allows us to immediately bring TEKKEN 7 to any platform we desire.”

“The Tekken franchise is beloved and we couldn’t be more excited to be working with the talented team at BANDAI NAMCO,” said Taka Kawasaki, Studio Head at Epic Games Japan. “This marriage is perfect – the most powerful engine in gaming along with one of the most enduring brands in fighting games. We have no doubt that these forces coming together will yield fantastic results.”