Although news broke that Tekken 7 would arrive in arcades next February a couple of months ago, it would appear that date wasn’t entirely correct.
During an interview with South Korean website CyFren, director Katsuhiro Harada relayed that Bandai Namco Games first plans to release a pre-launch version of the title in February before dropping the complete game in March of next year. This can be construed as a sort of beta release or soft launch on their part, which will allow them to hammer out the last few kinks left in the system before dropping cabs throughout Japan on a wide scale.
According to Avoiding the Puddle’s Flying Wonkey, who translated some of the more interesting pieces of the interview, Harada also stated that they are planning to include time-release cast members instead of outright cutting popular fighters from the cast.
Additionally, the longtime chief reiterated his desire to insert a female Korean character into the Tekken universe, though he feels fans in the region would much rather see a good-looking guy join Hwoarang and Baek as their country’s representatives. Work has yet to begin on this hypothetical addition, but Harada encourages players to provide feedback on Hwoarang’s transition to Tekken 7 in the meantime.
Taking this news in conjunction with Tekken 7 introducing the series’ first Italian fighter in newcomer Claudio and the possibility of an as of yet unnamed Arabian character also joining the mix, it would appear Harada is doing what he can to make sure our world’s diversity is properly represented in his fighting games.
For more details from this interview, be sure to check out CyFren if you can read Korean or head on over to Avoiding the Puddle for their translations.
Source: CyFren via Avoiding the Puddle