Tekken 8 explains ‘back to basics’ update for Season 3, facing backlash from FGC

Tekken 8 revealed its Season 3 trailer at the Tekken World Tour 2025 Global Finals, and developers want to explain some aspects of the update a bit further.

After Season 2 was met with frustration and complaints from competitive players, Bandai Namco spent most of the teaser trailer mentioning it would have ‘refined balance’ and ‘more focus.’ It even said that Season 3 would be a ‘fresh start.’ Now, developers want to explain that a bit further.

In a recent blog post, developers stated: “Thank you for the tremendous response to the Season 3 Trailer revealed at the Tekken World Tour 2025 Global Finals. Since its release, we have received many messages of excitement and anticipation, but at the same time, we have also seen some interpretations and speculation that differ from the intentions of the development team.”

With the update coming on March 17th, the team wanted to explain some of the key changes coming to Tekken 8.

First, developers noted that the ‘back to basics’ term used in the Season 3 trailer didn’t mean a ‘return to earlier Tekken battle systems’ or any ‘comprehensive changes.’ Instead, developers plan to make ‘incremental refinements’ rather than rebuilding in a ‘single step.’ In other words, don’t expect Season 3 to change the heavy focus on offensive playstyle introduced in Season 2 that inspired massive backlash.

Instead, Season 3 will bring small changes to combat like Heat Smash getting the wall splat effect removed. There will also be some balance changes to different character moves. Expect more updates ‘on an ongoing basis’ but don’t expect ‘large-scale, abrupt changes’ in this update.

Comments under the Season 3 trailer included the FGC hoping for Season 3 to fix what was done in Season 2, believing the trailer was hinting at this. Now, however, gamers are expressing anger at devs ‘backpedaling’ from the idea of going ‘back to basics.’ The trailer felt quite misleading, and the FGC has been left feeling hopeless about the state of Tekken 8.

“Dude, WE WERE ASKING FOR DRASTIC CHANGES for a whole year…. And now they are STILL saying they’re not doing it,” said one player.

Tekken 8 is still one of the more popular titles at events like Evo, but it has been losing some interest from the competitive scene due to its ongoing balance and gameplay issues.