There is no question that 2008 is the year of the fighter for arcades. Japan is seeing a large number of developers creating new fighters and other markets expect to see some of these titles, which includes Namco’s Tekken 6 and Capcom’s Street Fighter IV. Even in the US there is at least one company creating a new fighter for release this year, called Dark Presence (which we will be covering with exclusive info here shortly). So when players heard that one of the most anticipated fighters of the bunch, Tekken 6 would not be coming to the US or the UK, they had good reason to be angry. The Stinger Report has looked into the issue and full details will be revealed in next week’s Stinger Report (which is a free online newsletter). Here is a preview of what to expect.
Namco continues to give reasons for why they are seemingly uninterested in releasing the game in the US and UK. The game is expensive and it will be released on the PS3 in November 2008, thus undermining the arcade version. But players want the arcade version of the game and in some cases the operators do as well.
The arcade version of the game is coming to the US but not through official channels. At least two companies (one is not even an arcade operator but runs a manga shop) have gone through these unofficial channels to pick the game up, despite it’s hefty price tag. But even then Namco is looking at blocking imports of the game, dedicated or as a kit to the US. Of course these actions will not appease players in the least – the fact of the matter is that the game is earning very well in Japan and in London when the game was a huge success when it showed up at the Trocadero for a short time. The game has been
released in several other territories including Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong, and South Korea and everywhere it has been released it has broke records earnings. But as Namco lost money on Tekken 5 and they understand that most operator’s aren’t going to foot the $15,000 bill for the game (no matter how popular the game is, that is difficult to get a decent ROI) that will be the PS3 within mere months of the arcade release.
So will we get a straight answer from Namco anytime soon? It looks like ASI will tell us for sure, so stay tuned to Arcade Heroes or sign up for The Stinger Report newsletter.
