Potentially Dangerous Tekken 8 Demo Accessibility Features Being Removed

ign.com:

Potentially dangerous accessibility features present in the Tekken 8 demo will be removed both there and in the full game, seemingly by launch on January 26.

As reported by PC Gamer, Tekken 8 director Katushiro Harada said at the Tekken World Tour 2023 Finals that the accessibility features had been tweaked "quite a bit" to address concerns. As Harada spoke about these changes in past tense, changes will seemingly be ready for launch, though the demo update isn't available yet.

A now deleted Twitter/X post initially flagged the dangerous settings, where a player had combined striped black and white characters with a mostly white background. Accessibility experts were quick to point out the dangers of such settings, with consultant and advocate Ian Hamilton saying it could even hospitalise players with photosensitivity. "Harada, you urgently need to remove one of your filters (the striped one)," said Hamilton. "It cannot be present at launch as it may hospitalise players (or worse)."

Harada has seemingly done so, saying at the Tekken event: "Many people have been talking about the accessibility features in the demo for Tekken 8. Actually, that was just a work in progress, so we've actually tweaked that quite a bit to try to address some of the issues and to make sure it works better for a wider variety of people."

It's unclear if the relatively vague response will appease those who raised concerns with the demo, with EA's game accessibility lead Morgan Baker even saying it had induced an aura migraine for them.

Tekken 8 continues the story of Jin Kazama as he battles Kazuya Mishima and attempts to end their conflict once and for all.

In our preview of the game, IGN said: "Over the last few years, we’ve had several fighters, from Guilty Gear: Strive to Street Fighter 6, push the genre forward in exciting ways. Tekken 8 feels like it has the potential to be the next name on that list."

Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He'll talk about The Witcher all day.