Key Highlights:
- Katsuhiro Harada believes the PS5 SSD could significantly improve loading times in Tekken 8.
- Faster loading should allow players to return to fights and rematches with fewer delays.
- Harada also highlights the SSD advantages of Xbox Series X, although no comparative benchmarks have been provided.
Tekken 8 could deliver considerably faster loading times on PlayStation 5, with producer Katsuhiro Harada identifying the console’s SSD as one of the biggest improvements to the player experience. The upcoming fighting game is being developed for PS5, Xbox Series X|S and PC, leaving the previous console generation behind.
Speaking in a hands-on interview with GamesRadar+, Harada explains how the solid-state drives in PS5 and Xbox Series X can significantly reduce the time spent waiting between fights.
He describes the improvement as:
“probably even the biggest thing that’s gonna evolve the player experience in the game.”
Katsuhiro Harada
The benefit is particularly relevant to rematches. Instead of sitting through lengthy loading screens after every fight, players should be able to return to the action much sooner. The GamesRadar+ journalist also reports getting back into matches within seconds during an early hands-on session, although this is not a controlled loading-time comparison.
I can understand why Harada considers this such a substantial improvement. Fighting games are built around relatively short encounters, and lengthy interruptions between matches can become frustrating, especially when players want an immediate rematch after a close defeat.
However, faster loading does not automatically mean better online connections. An SSD can reduce the time required to load game assets, but matchmaking speed, network latency and rollback performance depend on separate systems. Harada has also confirmed cross-play and rollback netcode for Tekken 8, although their effectiveness will need to be evaluated independently.
Bandai Namco is taking advantage of newer hardware in other areas, too. Tekken 8 uses Unreal Engine 5, with rebuilt character models, more detailed environments and improved visual effects. The recent Jun Kazama gameplay trailer demonstrates those graphical improvements, although visual quality alone cannot establish how quickly the finished game will load.
Tekken 8 has no confirmed release date yet, but its move away from PS4 and Xbox One gives Bandai Namco more freedom to develop around modern hardware. If the shorter loading times demonstrated during early previews carry through to release, players could spend considerably less time waiting and more time fighting.
Later Update: In my Tekken 8 PS5 review, published in August 2025, I found that matches loaded extremely quickly compared with my experience of Tekken 7. Those hands-on impressions support Harada’s original expectations, although they are not controlled benchmarks comparing PS5 with Xbox Series X|S or PC.
