Tekken 8 tournament disaster: Chinese player disqualified ahead of top 8 finish throws the scene into turmoil

Over the weekend, Chinese Tekken 8 player xiaochenchen (XCC) made a scorching run through the bracket at Thaiger Uppercut. To call this an unexpected result is an understatement. People know that there's a fighting game space bubbling away in China, but fairly or unfairly, it's not held in the same regard as other countries. XCC was set to potentially throw a brick through such misconceptions, but was unable to. Due to the rules of the Tekken World Tour, he was disqualified.

Did he cheat? Did he conduct himself poorly in front of other competitors? Not at all. The Tekken World Tour rules, which apply to all events under its umbrella, does not include China as one of its included countries. Not only that, but it states that players from a country not listed outright cannot compete. It's not the only country absent, but it means that any player - with Tekken World Tour ambitions or not - from China is not allowed to compete in many popular Tekken events.

There's a lot of big questions floating around this situation, so lets break them down one by one. First of all, why is China not included in the Tekken World Tour? Well, there's no official word outright on why. We know that Tekken 8 has no dedicated servers in China, and is not technically an officially supported country. As such, it's possible that those responsible for writing up the Tekken World Tour rules just transferred over the offically supported regions and called it a day.

Some out there believe this line between what countries can and cannot compete in the Tekken World Tour is due to a political stance from Bandai Namco. While this could technically be the case (oftentimes what products are available in different countries is a result of real-world politics, trade embargoes, government approval processes etc), I very much doubt a company like Bandai Namco would take one side of the other on international political issues. Tekken 8 is part of the Esports World Cup despite all the sportswashing concerns so it's not like the company has a history of caring much about geopolitical relations, human rights abuses, etc.

What's perhaps the bigger why circulating online during all this is, why was XCC even allowed to enter the tournament in the first place? Or rather, why did it take until he reached top 8 to be disqualified? You've got to understand, a DQ at that point in the tournament is truly a disaster in terms of tournament integrity. XCC eliminated some really good players on his journey to top 8, players who otherwise could themselves have made a run for those sweet, sweet Tekken World Tour points (and prize money). It puts a dark stain on the entire tournament bracket.

I do feel for the staff at Thaiger Uppercut, though the buck ultimately falls on them here. Ideally, they should have spotted XCC and other Chinese players at entry, before they even caught the flight. But it had 550 entrants, which meant that someone would have had to manually check through every player to see if they come from China or another country absent from the official Tekken World Tour country list. On start.gg, you enrol yourself into the event, We can see that XCC has Shenyang, China listed as his home location on his account, so the red flags for rule breaking were all there.

Whether or not someone skimmed over his account, didn't check the accounts signing up altogether, or didn't think it wouldn't be a problem ultimately doesn't matter. He should not have been able to sign up at all, as harsh as that sounds. But, if you're gonna take the benefits of being part of the Tekken World Tour, you've got to take the downsides too.

This ultimately leads into the final big question, and one I feel is most important. Why on earth does a country's absence from the Tekken World Tour result in disqualification from events under its umbrella? This might sound odd coming off that prior paragraph, but all it should mean is that XCC wouldn't be eligible for Tekken World Tour points, and unable to attend Bandai-owned events like the TWT finals etc. As the rule stands, Chinese players with aspirations of greatness cannot attend any major event around the world. Despite there being a grassroots scene there, and great players living there, they've been cut off from the competitive world.

Other competitive games have had their own problems when it comes to players from banned regions. In Counter Strike, the scene as a whole has taken stand against Russia at the start of the Ukraine war, leaving many excellent players previously employed in a state of limbo and essentially unemployable. Russian players (who couldn't exactly go up on stage and denounce Russia while their family remained in the country) had to choose between leaving the country to pursue their career, or hang up their mitts and look for other work. That's obviously a hard choice for Counter Strike players, but compare that scene with fighting games where the average winnings for a competitive player may as well be a bag of flour and a pat on the back in comparison, and it's easy to see a future where Chinese players just don't focus on Tekken anymore.

Some have asked for an Olympics style approach, where Chinese players can compete without their country's flag on their backs, but honestly this could all be fixed with a single short paragraph addition to the rules. Players from outside the allowed countries can compete, but can't take home TWT points.

As it stands, the situation just feels gross. Thaiger Uppercut has been around for 10+ years. It is not a Bandai Namco property, but as it's sponsored by the Tekken World Tour, it's got to play by its rules. Many look back at the "good old days" when a player would travel to an international major on a whim and battle it out for $50, and there's a good reason they do so. While the world of competitive Tekken has gotten a lot more luxurious in recent years, and prize pools have got more plump, this has come with developers and publishers being more hands-on and that organic 'world warrior' environment where a monster from anywhere could show up at your countries' major has gone out the door.

What that means right now is that players like XCC essentially can't be world champions in spite of personal skill, and China will be left in the dark. That, to me at least, is a fundamental value that built the Tekken scene as we know it thrown to the wayside. Bandai Namco has released a statement saying the rules may be changed as a result. I sincerely hope they are.