Will Tekken 8 Feature Crossplay?

After several years of waiting and wondering, fans finally got an announcement for "Tekken 8" last year during a PlayStation State of Play event and anticipation is building. There's no set release date at the moment, but Bandai Namco has begun to reveal bits of information and started previewing what gamers can expect this time around. Among the features that players have been hoping for and asking about is the addition of online crossplay.

Notably absent from past entries in the series, some would argue that crossplay is long overdue. Finally being able to play with friends on other consoles would be a welcome change for longtime fans of the series. Indeed, crossplay is so important that some gamers have begun going directly to the source for answers.

On Twitter, fans have asked game director Katsuhiro Harada about this very issue, and he was kind enough to answer. Even better, his response was just what players were hoping to hear. It looks like crossplay will finally be coming to "Tekken" this time around.

Responding to the query on Twitter, Harada's answer was an emphatic "of course." Crossplay will indeed be included in "Tekken 8," and, it seems, Harada considered its addition too much of a given to warrant an official announcement. Further, Harada took the opportunity to stress his longtime support for the feature and to explain its absence last time around.

In the same Tweet, Harada explained that he pushed for crossplay during the development of titles for the last console generation — but that Sony and Microsoft stood in the way. He expanded on this in a second tweet, taking a shot at the two companies and claiming that they weren't as supportive of crossplay as they claimed to be at the time. 

This reveal, and the callout of Microsoft and Sony, were both met with considerable joy by users on Twitter, and the reveals kept coming as Harada also confirmed that rollback netcode has been added to "Tekken 8." A feature that's quickly becoming a staple of fighting games, rollback smooths out the action by reducing how much lag is felt by players, and its inclusion is another big step forward for the "Tekken" series.

With rollback and crossplay finally coming to "Tekken," the series should be better than ever for those playing online multiplayer. "Tekken 8" could be a big hit with fighting game fans if it launches this year.