In a move of particular cultural awareness, Bandai Namco is asking for feedback from its fans in the Middle East about a new Arab character that they are adding to Tekken 7 .
This may not seem as monumental as I am making it out to be, but remember this is Tekken we are talking about. This is the game with Chinese schoolgirls and drunken masters and Russian military men, and giant army robots wearing wifebeaters. It’s stereotype-tastic! So the fact that they are asking fans about whether or not their new character design is permissible is pretty monumental. Fighting games haven’t exactly had the greatest track record of cultural awareness. I’m looking at you Dhalsim .
The character looks a lot like a character out of Assassin’s Creed . He wears a keffiyeh, a white shirt, and wields a sword and multiple daggers. Katsuhiro Harada has said that he had an idea for a Middle Eastern character since 2008, but unfortunately his team didn’t know enough about Middle Eastern culture to make it work.
“If the Tekken fan community, especially those in the Middle Eastern area, end up liking this character, I would like to feature this character in the game,” Harada said in a post to the game’s Facebook page. “On the other hand, if this character is not received well by the Middle Eastern Tekken fan community members, there is a possibility that the character will be considerably changed or letting go of the idea of featuring this character in the game.”
Source: Facebook