Bandai Namco Games Inc. announced the seventh installment of its Tekken fight game series, marking the first news release about the franchise since 2007.
The new game was revealed at the Evolution Championship Series (EVO) tournament this past weekend in Las Vegas, according to PC Magazine. The Japanese game maker added that Tekken 7 would use Unreal Engine 4 from American video game developer Epic Games.
"With Unreal Engine 4, we could rapidly achieve visual quality expected on the next-gen platform and go beyond it," said Katsuhiro Harada, series executive producer and game director at Bandai. "Not only is Unreal Engine 4 powerful and easy to use, but it allows us to immediately bring Tekken 7 to any platform we desire."
Details about a release date and platform availability for the game have yet to be revealed.
Epic Games' multi-platform technology is also being used for Fable: Legends, Grasshopper Manufacture's planned game Let It Die, and Epic's shooter game Fortnite, The Guardian reported.
A short teaser of the new Tekken game is shown to still focus on the family rivalry between Heihachi Mishima, son Kazuya and grandson Jin. A woman is shown saying she must stop Heihachi, and is expected to be either Kazumi Mishima, Heihachi's wife and Kazuya's mother, or Jun, Jin's mother, who have both been killed in the previous games. Heihachi and Kazuya, or possibly Jin, are shown getting ready to fight each other, with the later saying "You killed my mother." The trailer ends with the words "final battle."
Bandai promised it would reveal more information about Tekken 7 at its San Diego Comic-Con panel, which will be held on July 25th, PC Magazine reported.
"The Tekken franchise is beloved and we couldn't be more excited to be working with the talented team at Bandai Namco," said Taka Kawasaki, studio head at Epic Games Japan. "We have no doubt that these forces coming together will yield fantastic results."
Kawasaki also referred to the partnership as a "perfect marriage" between "the most powerful engine in gaming" and "one of the most enduring brands in fighting games."
Harada said using Unreal Engine 4 will help the company focus on "making Tekken 7 the best possible game without worrying about spending time creating a stand-alone graphic engine."
