Upcoming fighting game Tekken 8's top developers came together at the EVO 2023 esports event to talk about the game, and what they revealed may not be too pleasant if you're a PC gamer.
Tekken 8 recently underwent two different closed network tests in back-to-back weeks, with the first being open only to PlayStation 5 users and the second adding in players on Xbox Series X|S and PC. While the developers at the event, which was streamed live on Twitch on Saturday, identified many revelations gathered from the tests, one of the most surprising, at least for Tekken Project Game Producer Michael Murray, is the negative response some console players have had when matched against PC players.
While a lot of people seemed to be accessing the network tests on high-end PCs, Murray, translating for Game Director Katsuhiro Harada, pointed out that there also seems to have been a rise in gamers with lower-end PCs wanting to get in on the action, and console players have been reacting with annoyance when matched against them. That seems to be a complete 180 from years past, Murray noted, during a time when PC players were much more likely to look down on people playing games using consoles.
As the first game in Tekken's nearly 30-year history to feature crossplay between PlayStation, Xbox, and PC players, Murray pointed out Tekken 8's inclusion of options that allow players to choose between graphical optimization and response optimization, and he made a point that if you choose to optimize one of those options on your console or PC, it should not affect your opponent's performance, or vice-versa.
Despite that fact, the developers have included handy tools that players can use when matchmaking with other players from around the world. This information will show their prospective opponents' machines' processing speed with red and green icons displaying whether you, your opponent, or both are experiencing slowdown.
One positive takeaway from the inclusion of PC gamers in the second test, however, is that it resulted in fewer players being connected to the game via Wi-Fi. The developers noted during the event that Wi-Fi connections can be a lot less reliable than hardwired connections, which can affect game performance between matched players. The PlayStation 5-exclusive week one test featured 56.8% of users connecting ther devices directly to the Internet through a wire, while the second test (which, again, also included PC and Xbox Series X|S users) bumped that figure up to 75.5%
Even with the matchmaking problems caused by more gamers with lower-end PCs, Murray noted the developement team is committed to making sure the game will run optimally even on outdated and non-optimized hardware. "If we move the game to 2030 release, PC, it's gonna run perfect, right?" he joked.
For his part, Harada has been very active on Twitter over the last few weeks, dealing directly with test players, during the CNTs, but even he has been, in his own way, weighing in on the commentary about lower-end PCs. While Murray noted during the stream that Harada considers himself part of the "PC Master Race" with his commitment to high-end machines, Harada last weekend clapped back at a particularly harsh online critic by insulting the critic's PC setup.
Tekken 8 has no official release date yet, but most signs point towards a release sometime in 2024.