Tekken 8’s Steam rating takes a dive as fans lament ‘scummy’ monetisation and battle pass

After a roaring start, rave reviews and a microtransaction-free launch, Tekken 8’s honeymoon phase appears to be over. Steam reviews have slumped in the last few weeks, bringing the recent score down to a measly ‘Mixed’ rating of 54% as of writing, quite the difference from the game’s overall rating of 80%. The culprit? Microtransactions, mostly.

Fans have taken to the game’s store page to vent about their frustrations with Bandai Namco’s handling of its unexpected monetisation, which some are calling “scummy” and “greedy”. It started in February, a month after release, when a surprise cash shop reveal left the community divided. Some were able to get behind promises that the money would go directly back into the game’s development, while others expressed their anger at the fact that Bamco waited an entire month into launch to even mention a word about monetisation.

Things have seemingly only gone downhill from there, too. Tekken 8 recently received a battle pass with some, uh… questionable premium rewards. From assets that have made an appearance in previous Tekken games to a paid reward which appears to be little more than an untextured sphere, the reception to the battle pass has been unkind. Couple that with the fact that it costs $6 of real money, but can only be purchased with Tekken Coin bundles that come in $5 or $10 increments, and the poor feedback feels pretty understandable.

One Steam reviewer called out the fact that Tekken 8 has been suffering from issues regarding netcode and cheaters but has yet to properly address them, while the cash shop and battle pass have been pushed. “Scummy doesn’t even begin to describe it,” they wrote. “I can’t recommend a product that’s leaning so heavily towards such shady practices. It’s a shame, because the core game itself is a lot of fun.”