Ok, I previously wrote a really favourable review of the game. It was pretty detailed on my initial experience. Since then I've put in a fair bit of time and even entered a few tournaments. At it's core, I love this game. It's very fun, the story mode is enjoyable, and overall it's game I strongly want to support long term.

Unfortunately, Bandai Namco's actions have made me incredibly jaded. They have repeatedly made scummy predatory decisions. I want to make clear that I don't oppose microtransactions or dlc. In fact, I recognise them as an important part of maintaining a high cost live service game. However, the following decisions made by Bamco show nothing but disdain for their loyal and supportive fanbase:

1) The Ultimate Edition was a scam. I say this as someone who very proudly preordered it. The general expectation in the industry is that when you release something called an "ultimate edition" it includes a year's worth of premium content. This is usually accompanied by a roadmap and if things get added on, it gets communicated and often included in good faith. This is the expectation that comes with selling such a product. Why is it like this? Because the point of an ultimate edition is to pre-fund the development of future content. The ultimte edition should be the fans demonstrating their support for the game. What Bamco delivered with it is an insult.

2) The game added a battle pass with no warning. I'm not opposed to the idea of a battle pass. In fact, I'm someone who has bought some battle passes for games that have implemented it well. But we didn't know it was coming. It came out of nowhere. There was no good faith free pass for season pass or ultimate edition owners. Before the backlash it didn't even include any premium currency on the track (something I fundamentally disagree with any but we'll get to that). The main issue here is that it was shoehorned in with no warning in the most disgusting way. Once again, insulting to the fans.

3) This game has a horrible implementation of premium currency. Fundamentally, premium currency is a predatory system and I disagree with it. Barring games where they throw loads of it at you for free (where I'm on the fence), I disagree with premium currency on principle. Tekken 8 somehow does it horribly because you cannot purchase the exact amount required for the battle pass. This is inherently predatory. Oh, and let's not forget that Japanese customers are time limited with their currency. I know this is a legal restriction but it's still ridiculous. Let me buy stuff with real money if you're trying to sell stuff.

4) A large chunk of premium content is just assets that were available for free in the previous game being ported into the new engine. And it's completely lazy as well, since the assets have barely been worked on when shifting them into the new engine. There are some examples where the textures and lighting has clearly been improved, but a big chunk of the accessories and smaller cosmetics are 1:1 ports. This is just sad.

5) The latest controversy is the sudden announcement that the new stage would not be included in the season pass. Fine, you have a good reason for selling it separately? I guess if you let people know well in advance. Oh what's that, you didn't tell anyone until just before release? After setting the expectation that characters would release with their associated stages, and even doing that for one of the previous characters in this very season pass, you can't just suddenly turn around and say you're going to charge for it with no warning. There was 0 communication, and we know that even Harada was livid at how stupid and insulting this decision was.

6) In my previous review I made a statement that Bamco should release more story content that I would happily pay for. This is a sentiment that was echoed by a large chunk of the community. So Bamco, in their infinite wisdom, decided to make all the above stupid monetisation decisions and then release a free story mode continuation. Of course, this meant that the quality of it suffered. After the fantastic story mode in the base game, the free update was just pathetic. Honestly, it seems like a dlc character demo to try and sell more dlc. The story is incoherent and adds practically nothing of value. I haven't heard anything positive about the quality of it. Once again, they could have spent more time and resources on this and then sold it! Instead, what we got was a phoned in glorified advert. It was just salt in the wounds.

My review has switched to negative and will remain so until the Bamco execs grow a few brain cells and realise that this game is both beloved and profitable. If you want people to spend money on your game, treat them with respect instead of trying to milk every penny you can from them with deceitful and predatory tactics.

Ok, I previously wrote a really favourable review of the game. It was pretty detailed on my initial experience. Since then I've put in a fair bit of time and even entered a few tournaments. At it's core, I love this game. It's very fun, the story mode is enjoyable, and overall it's game I strongly want to support long term. Unfortunately, Bandai Namco's actions have made me incredibly jaded. They have repeatedly made scummy predatory decisions. I want to make clear that I don't oppose microtransactions or dlc. In fact, I recognise them as an important part of maintaining a high cost live service game. However, the following decisions made by Bamco show nothing but disdain for their loyal and supportive fanbase: 1) The Ultimate Edition was a scam. I say this as someone who very proudly preordered it. The general expectation in the industry is that when you release something called an "ultimate edition" it includes a year's worth of premium content. This is usually accompanied by a roadmap and if things get added on, it gets communicated and often included in good faith. This is the expectation that comes with selling such a product. Why is it like this? Because the point of an ultimate edition is to pre-fund the development of future content. The ultimte edition should be the fans demonstrating their support for the game. What Bamco delivered with it is an insult. 2) The game added a battle pass with no warning. I'm not opposed to the idea of a battle pass. In fact, I'm someone who has bought some battle passes for games that have implemented it well. But we didn't know it was coming. It came out of nowhere. There was no good faith free pass for season pass or ultimate edition owners. Before the backlash it didn't even include any premium currency on the track (something I fundamentally disagree with any but we'll get to that). The main issue here is that it was shoehorned in with no warning in the most disgusting way. Once again, insulting to the fans. 3) This game has a horrible implementation of premium currency. Fundamentally, premium currency is a predatory system and I disagree with it. Barring games where they throw loads of it at you for free (where I'm on the fence), I disagree with premium currency on principle. Tekken 8 somehow does it horribly because you cannot purchase the exact amount required for the battle pass. This is inherently predatory. Oh, and let's not forget that Japanese customers are time limited with their currency. I know this is a legal restriction but it's still ridiculous. Let me buy stuff with real money if you're trying to sell stuff. 4) A large chunk of premium content is just assets that were available for free in the previous game being ported into the new engine. And it's completely lazy as well, since the assets have barely been worked on when shifting them into the new engine. There are some examples where the textures and lighting has clearly been improved, but a big chunk of the accessories and smaller cosmetics are 1:1 ports. This is just sad. 5) The latest controversy is the sudden announcement that the new stage would not be included in the season pass. Fine, you have a good reason for selling it separately? I guess if you let people know well in advance. Oh what's that, you didn't tell anyone until just before release? After setting the expectation that characters would release with their associated stages, and even doing that for one of the previous characters in this very season pass, you can't just suddenly turn around and say you're going to charge for it with no warning. There was 0 communication, and we know that even Harada was livid at how stupid and insulting this decision was. 6) In my previous review I made a statement that Bamco should release more story content that I would happily pay for. This is a sentiment that was echoed by a large chunk of the community. So Bamco, in their infinite wisdom, decided to make all the above stupid monetisation decisions and then release a free story mode continuation. Of course, this meant that the quality of it suffered. After the fantastic story mode in the base game, the free update was just pathetic. Honestly, it seems like a dlc character demo to try and sell more dlc. The story is incoherent and adds practically nothing of value. I haven't heard anything positive about the quality of it. Once again, they could have spent more time and resources on this and then sold it! Instead, what we got was a phoned in glorified advert. It was just salt in the wounds. My review has switched to negative and will remain so until the Bamco execs grow a few brain cells and realise that this game is both beloved and profitable. If you want people to spend money on your game, treat them with respect instead of trying to milk every penny you can from them with deceitful and predatory tactics.