The Tekken 8 premium collector’s edition sounds fantastic on paper, but when you take its contents and price point into account, it might not be as worthwhile as you think.
Tekken 8 is releasing next year and it’s doing so with a weighty collectors edition. This edition features a statue of Devil Gene-possessed Jin Kazama along with some collectible cards and stickers, and a replica of Leroy Smith’s ring. For a long-time fan of the series, it sounds like a dream, especially given Tekken’s history of being pretty tight with its merchandise. But, while it offers an expansive haul, a hefty price tag has upset my willingness to preorder.
This is a problem for me for two reasons: I love Tekken, and I love video game tat. Compared to the wheelbarrows full of merch for fighting game siblings Street Fighter and Mortal Kombat, Tekken is often quite thin on the ground, which means these top-tier, expensive editions often represent your best bet at getting some lesser-seen collectibles.
Still, this isn’t an easy purchase even if you’re the world’s number-one Tekken fan. There’s no easy way to say it, but the Tekken 8 premium collector’s edition is the same price as a standard Nintendo Switch console, and even my trinket-loving heart is struggling to accept just how much money that is.
For $299.99 / £259.99, you can invest in the newest installment to the Tekken series on PS5, Xbox Series X|S, or PC, alongside a handful of various pieces of merchandise which, yeah, are pretty cool to look at, but you probably won’t display as much as you’d hope — or at least not as much as you’d be likely to display (or actually use) a Nintendo Switch. What’s on the cards?
With any collector’s edition, you really expect to be wowed by its content, and, over the years, more pressure has been put on these box sets to present something to justify their evergrowing price tags.
