Tekken 8 probably won't come to Switch 2 any time soon, and the reason comes down to money

Releasing Tekken 8 on Switch 2 is a good business tactic, series creator Katsuhiro Harada says, but it would be costly...and the payoff may not entirely be worth it (at least right now).

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At EVO 2025, Eurogamer asked Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada if a game like Tekken 8 could ever come over to the Switch 2. Nintendo's new console is selling like gangbusters right now, becoming the fastest-selling video games console with the best-ever initial launch in the history of the games industry. So...why not attach a mega-popular IP to the platform?

The reality is that something like this could be pretty tough to pull off. Tekken 8 was built from the ground up for Gen 9 consoles and PC, featuring crunchy, fast-paced gameplay where split-second timing is crucial. The Tekken team would have to do lots of scaling on the Switch 2, and while it's not impossible, it just might not be worth it for Bandai Namco right now.

"[Tekken 8 on Switch 2] is an interesting option, and not totally off the table. But it would require a lot of work on the game to get it running on that hardware."

"From a business standpoint, it is doing quite well, so it would be a very good business decision if you're trying to get a bigger audience. But the amount of work that would have to be done on the game makes it not a very easy decision. At this point in time, there is nothing to announce."

Also, one thing we have to keep in mind is that Tekken 8 isn't entirely pulling in huge sales--the game reached 3 million sales months ago, which isn't terrible by any means, however given the Switch 2's current building installed base of 6 million, Bandai could hold off on a Tekken 8 Switch 2 port until the platform matures a bit. That way Bandai could improve its chances on more sales because there's now more owners of the console.