Heihachi Mishima is coming to Tekken 8

Heihachi Mishima is coming to Tekken 8, Bandai Namco has announced.

Revealed at Evo2024, the iconic Tekken character will come to the game in Autumn 2024.

Heihachi Mishima is the third DLC character for Tekken 8 following Eddy Gordo and Lidia Sobieska.

Speaking to IGN following the announcement, Tekken boss Katsuhiro Harada said: “Tekken 7 really focused on the story arc between Heihachi and his son, Kazuya, and so, we really wanted to show that kind of final conclusion, and he seemed to die at that point.

“But then, after that happened, Tekken 8 was released, and we put a lot of effort into the story and the fans really seemed to be engaged with that. And as that was happening, we were kind of feeling that the players kind of missed him as well. Obviously, we did, too. So, it was kind of decided later on that we would do that.”

Tekken 8 launched in January to critical and commercial success, but some fans have since expressed disappointment at the gradual increase in monetisation.

Around a month after its release, Bandai Namco added microtransactions to the game, along with a Tekken Shop where items could be bought for real money.

This was followed by news in April that a Tekken Fight Pass was being added, which would add a live service element with free and premium tiers, much like a Battle Pass in other games.