After 1 Year, Tekken 8 Remains the Only Mainstream Game of…

After decades of back and forth between the 2D and 3D sides of fighting games, Tekken 8 stands as the last franchise of its subgenre with a notable presence in the industry. While its contemporaries have occupied a shared space while maintaining their statuses, Bandai Namco's flagship fighting series has done right by the aspects of its design unseen in seemingly similar titles. Now a dominant force in the discourse around fighters as a whole, Tekken 8 has accomplished the daunting task of proving that 3D fighting games still have a place in the modern market.

Before Tekken 8's early 2024 release, Tekken 7 was practically the only majorly successful release in the entire subgenre during the 2010s, with other franchises failing to reach the same level of pop culture awareness. The impressive sales of Tekken 8 have shown that fan interest hasn't gone anywhere, but its viability also seems to have paved the way for more titles of its kind to accompany it in the future.

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Tekken 8 Season 2 DLC Character Wish List

With this year expected to see another season of DLC fighters coming to Tekken 8, some characters deserve the spots more than others.

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By Cameron Lucas

Tekken 8 Reveals the State of 3D Fighting Games in 2025

Over the past two decades, 3D fighters have seen a steep decline that's difficult to ignore. After being a dominant force in the industry as a whole during a period when the subgenre was trending, names that were hyped among fighting games of the early 2000s haven't kept up the same level of long-term interest in subsequent console generations. Tekken 8 especially sticks out due to this reality, as netting over two million sales within a month is an impressive feat regardless of genre.

Other 3D Fighters Have Begun to Fall into Obscurity

Titles that share Tekken's gameplay style might not have achieved the same success as its newest release because their owners seemingly haven't been motivated to keep new games in production. While their lack of representation could seem discouraging, it's apparent that Tekken 8's quality online play, relatively competitive balancing, and consistent post-launch support have proven its viability on a wide scale.

Franchise	Most Recent Entry	Time Gap Since Release (Approx.)	Status
Tekken	Tekken 8 (2024)	1 Year	Active
Virtua Fighter	Virtua Fighter 6 (upcoming)	19 years/4 years(remaster)	Active
Soulcalibur	Soulcalibur 6 (2018)	7 years	Unknown
Dead or Alive	Dead or Alive 6 (2019)	6 years	Unknown

Tekken 8 Has Kept the Genre Alive During a Crucial Period

The Precedent of the Only Major 3D Fighting Game on the Market

By existing alone in a market without any comparisons, Tekken 8 has managed to keep the identity of 3D fighters alive among newer players. While the subgenres can often be conflated, these titles demand an entirely different approach to combat due to elements such as multi-dimensional spacing, sidestepping, and wall carrying. This can feel overwhelming and complicated to players of Street Fighter or Mortal Kombat, but Tekken 8 has held out against their latest entries while single-handedly holding up the 3D subgenre.

The upcoming release of Virtua Fighter 6 is now expected to see Tekken joined by a worthy competitor, and it's entirely possible that Sega was only confident enough to green-light this project after observing the potential that Tekken 8 was able to fulfill. Although it may initially seem ironic, games of a similar type ultimately thrive from an area of the general market being dedicated to them. In a notable instance of this symbiosis that Tekken has supported, series creator Katsuhiro Harada expressed enthusiasm about Virtua Fighter 6's reveal on X/Twitter: