Tekken director says unlockables are outdated and no longer useful

Unlockable characters in fighting games are sooo yesterday, according to Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada.

During a Namco Bandai event this week, Harada stated that originally unlockables were created to extend the life of coin-operated arcade machines.

“Why we locked the characters originally was that in the arcades, it was kind of to extend the life of the game by gradually unlocking characters," Harada told Videogamer. "Also with the home versions as well, because you can rent games or whatever, it was to protect us against that.

“That’s kind of outdated now though, especially with online play. If we were to have locked characters it would irritate a lot of people, to be playing against others online and to not have all the characters available.

"So I think it’s no longer useful.”

Tekken 6 will feature 40 fighters available right from the start when it releases October 27.