Tekken 7 Season 4 has been officially slated for a November 10 release. Players will finally be able to experience Kunimitsu and all the balance adjustments — including new moves for all characters — once the patch drops.
However, some players were apparently given access to Tekken 7 Season 4 earlier than November 10. Over Twitter, it was announced by Bandai Namco Nordics that TheMainManSWE
would be streaming an exclusive sneak peek at Season 4 content (archive after the jump). “‘MASKU!’ – The self proclaimed ‘Mozart of #TEKKEN’ is going live on Twitch.tv with an exclusive look into the Season Pass 4!” said Bandai Namco. Fans were promised a look at Kunimitsu, the new stage, buffs, nerfs, and new moves.
It seems that a number of players have been given exclusive access to Tekken 7 Season 4 before its release. While this does give the community an early look at the upcoming content, many members appear to be unhappy about this.
One can argue that giving early access to big names in the community could hurt smaller content creators. For YouTube and Twitch streamers, the release of new content in games like Tekken 7 provides an opportunity to expand viewership.
“Namco doesn’t deserve the free advertising they get from creators,” said Aris. “Devs need to realize that the game is nothing without its players, creators, commentators and tournaments. I think I’ll wait for Tekken 8. Maybe they’ll get a clue on how to handle rolling out content by then.”
When asked if he’d change his stance if he was given a code, Aris stated that he doesn’t even want early access.
“Tekken 7 Season 4 being limited to only a small handful of content creators is really unfortunate,” said Shaun Rivera. “Robbing players of being able to participate in the discovery period, especially when a new character, new moves and a full balance overhaul have happened, is a huge misplay.”
“I was really looking forward to my Kunimitsu stream on her release, finding stuff with her, combos and showcasing her with my Tekken Tag Tournament 2 knowledge of the character,” stated UYU|Fergus. “Now the hype is completely gone, this has been robbed off me, I’ll still stream her and hopefully we can still have some fun.”
“I am actually pretty upset over this, my YT is slowly growing, this was going to be my big break on YT because I am probably in the best spot to make Kunimitsu content because I have played her loads in Tekken Tag 2,” continued Fergus. “I will still post them anyway but my motivation died a lot.”
Some players like EQNX|Joey Fury don’t appear to mind some players getting their hands on Season 4 early, but still believes that Bandai Namco should release the patch notes. “I don’t mind too much about a few people getting early access to S4, but… Release the PATCH NOTES FFS!”
Eventually, Katsuhiro Harada revealed that he had nothing to do with the decision to give exclusive access to some content creators in Europe.
“It’s a horribly nonsense operation,” said Harada. “I don’t understand the marketing sense of the European team. Also, you should stop thinking that I’m giving some instructions to every corner of the world from 1 to 100 like God.”
Was exclusively giving certain players early access a good way for Bandai Namco to give the community a sneak peek or was it a bad call? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section.