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Tekken 7 Pro Anakin talks competition, Jack & Tekken 8

We spoke with Tekken pro Anakin about the present and future of the fighting series.

Donovan Erskine

March 15, 2023 12:30 PM

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The Tekken franchise stands as one of the most iconic in the fighting game community, and is set receive new life with the upcoming Tekken 8. One of the most notable people in that space is Hoa "Anakin" Luu, a prolific Tekken 7 pro player. We spoke with Anakin about his experience competing in Tekken, and his thoughts on Tekken 8 and what it means for the franchise.

Shacknews Senior News Editor TJ Denzer spoke with Anakin about his relationship to the Tekken series. He talked about last year’s competitive tour, which was the first one since the start of the pandemic, and adopted a hybrid format. “There were online events included as part of the tour, and there was an additional online format phase that everybody had to go through in order to qualify.” He shared that this added hurdle made it even more stressful as it was harder to qualify than usual. Anakin does praise the format for putting a spotlight on regions that aren’t usually highlighted.

For this year’s tour, Tekken competition will be moving closer to its original format, a move that Anakin is happy about. “Eliminating the regional format is pretty nice, and also, the online tournaments being thrown out is a welcome change.” There will be a stronger emphasis on offline, in-person competition for the upcoming tour.

The biggest thing looming over the Tekken community is the upcoming Tekken 8. It’s likely that this will be the final tour for Tekken 7, which has increased the stakes in the minds of a lot of players, including Anakin. While he’s looking forward to the next installment, he had nothing but good things to say about Tekken 7, stating that it has done more for the franchise and its community than any other game in the series. For more insightful interviews, be sure subscribe to the Shacknews and GamerHubTV YouTube channels.

Donovan Erskine

News Editor

Donovan is a journalist from Maryland. His oldest gaming memory is playing Pajama Sam on his mom's desktop during weekends. Pokémon Emerald, Halo 2, and the original Star Wars Battlefront 2 were some of the most influential titles in awakening his love for video games. After interning for Shacknews throughout college, Donovan graduated from Bowie State University in 2020 with a major in broadcast journalism and joined the team full-time. He is a huge film fanatic and will talk with you about movies and games all day. You can follow him on twitter @Donimals_