Tekken 8 released off the back of Tekken 7 having one of gaming’s most unlikely comebacks and, though Season 1 had its fair share of issues, fans of the series were optimistic about the future and overall direction of the series.
Phi ‘PhiDX’ Lam saw an opportunity in this and built a career for himself off the back of Tekken 8’s release. He’s the Tekken guy at this point and used the budding career he had in Tekken 7 to really explode as a creator when 8 was released. Now, he’s arguably the most trusted voice in the community.
However, right as Phi’s career was hitting new highs, Season 2 dropped. This patch was so notoriously bad that it’d be no exaggeration to call it one of the worst patches in video game history, at least in terms of community reception. Over 1500 changes, and almost all of them were misses in the eyes of Tekken pros and casual players alike.
For Phi, a man who just built a stable career around Tekken 8, this downturn came at the absolute worst time.
Despite the fact that Season 2 has somewhat improved since its April 1, 2025 launch, T8 now has a reputation that will be very hard to break. Winning back the players that were lost to start Season 2 is a tall order, even if the pro scene, in isolation, is thriving.
I sat down with PhiDX for an extended interview to talk through the experience of trying to make a living as a Tekken creator during one of the darkest chapters in the series’ 30 year history. Is Tekken 8 worth saving, or should they just move on and try starting with a clean slate?
PhiDX opened up to Esports.net about how Tekken 8’s downfall affected him.
How Tekken 8’s Struggles Impacted PhiDX’s Content
Walk me through what it’s like trying to be a Tekken creator while the developers of the game are burning their goodwill with the community.
What a question, that’s a fire opener. To speak generally, there are a lot of routes different creators can take, and I think I can only really speak to mine. There were people who were definitely drama farming and stuff like that, and I knew I didn’t want to do that.
But, I remember at the time that Season 2 dropped, there was a vocal minority of players who were calling me a shill for the company and things like that. They were like, “This is your fault, if only you were more critical, yada yada yada.” So… my headspace at the time was that I’ve generally been positive about the game just to encourage more people to try it.
I don’t like the idea of making a critical video, and then somebody who’s having fun starts to have less fun, it didn’t sit well with me. In general, that’s why I lean towards more positive content, talking about the game, talking about things I like.
Once the patch dropped, I knew the shill claims were kind of nonsensical, but part of me was kind of like, ‘Do I need to be more critical? Do I need to make it known that I disagree?’ That was one of my first concerns. It’s authentic to me to be critical in this situation, but the trade-off is it will affect people negatively who do enjoy the game. Is that worth it? And I went towards yes, it’s what I wanted to talk about.
At a certain point, though, it did get a little tiring. I don’t enjoy making negative content, the game wasn’t being patched in a way that seemed like it would improve, so I just ended up uploading less, you know? There was just less natural passion to work on it, there were less positive things to talk about. So, I just streamed and didn’t talk about the game. I rode that out for a while, did some tournament coverage and the usual stuff.
I’m lucky that, when I was commentating tournaments, I was able to find fun moments. Like, there are still high level players making reads and things like that, making optimizations. That is always going to be cool to me. I found positive things to talk about when there was a tournament happening.
There was a turning point where I went to Sandia Showdown, a tournament in Albuquerque. I was talking to a bunch of tournament officials from Colorado and Albuquerque, and they were saying, ‘We used to have 30-40 people at our locals, and last time it was like 9-12.’ That kind of changed my brain chemistry.
I was tweaking about being a shill or being negative to people who wanted to learn the game, but these people who actually spend time and money every week or every month to host something that’s, like, a big time commitment – they were having a worse experience because of negative content coming out. That really shifted my perspective.
If I’m gonna say something, have something nice to say. If I’m not gonna say something nice, have it be constructive or very clear that it’s constructive criticism.
So, like, have it clear that you have a goal and something you want to be changed?
Yeah, like try not to even clickbait something negative. Because there are people who timeline scroll, see the clickbait, and use that as my message.
There are a lot of videos still on my second channel that are unpublished and probably will stay unpublished just because of that experience I had. They would have been good videos, they would get traction, and I do believe in the message, but the packaging of it could affect these people who are actually committing IRL time, money, and effort. Their communities are being broken apart. That didn’t sit well with me to contribute to that.
The tough thing is you were gaining so much traction as a creator coming off of Season 1. There were also the Tekken Sajam Slams, which did extremely well.
Oh my god, yeah.
And you were talking with all these massive creators who seemed to love working with you, and you set up all those connections to continue doing that. You were on the path to making an even bigger career for yourself as a creator.
You’re talking about feeling bad for tournament organizers, but, I mean the reality is that something happened that’s out of your control that, in a lot of ways, messed up the career path you were probably blueprinting for yourself, you know?
Yeah… That’s true.
I think it’s okay to mourn that a little bit. I mean, I’m sure that making negative content was partially to relieve some of the stress of, ‘Holy sh*t, this game is my job, and the devs just f**ked it up’.
Kind of? I mean, when I think of – I’d have to scroll my time my channel to really identify every video – but, off the top of my head, the two critical videos I made were, like… genuine cries for help.
‘If the devs see this, please listen,’ was kind of the vibe.
I hear that the devs see everything, so I tried to make it as clear as possible [what the problems are]. So, I’d make a video like, ‘I’m taking a break from Tekken 8’ and I’d show a Steve string, and I’d show the rock paper scissors situation and how brain-dead it is, things like that. It was still within the lens of, ‘Yes, my career is heavily tied to Tekken, but, even if you remove that and just talk about the game, there are people at every level who are unhappy with this.’ I tried to speak more to that.
Because there was so much talk about me self-enriching at the expense of the “integrity of Tekken”, I was always conscious of that when I was making content. I wanted to keep it as objective as possible, even if, in my soul, I was feeling like, ‘Why is this happening?!’ I wanted to keep it clear-cut that this is really about the game. Even if you’re not in a position where this is something that you can make a living off of, it’s still an issue.
So, you don’t have to give me a specific number, but I’m genuinely curious what percentage of people who chose not to buy or chose to stop playing Tekken 8 because of Season 2 you think could accurately explain what the issues were. Beyond base level stuff like Jack’s release Make Some Noise string, Paul’s unblockable Deep Dive cancel, things like that.
Oh, that’s a good question. I honestly don’t have a good answer only because, especially after the Season 2 drop, I made an intentional effort to be less tapped in. In order to keep making content that I enjoy and that I feel good about, I had to read less about what people think.
But, just to be somewhat on topic, a lot of comments I get these days are just, ‘Is Tekken fixed yet?’ or like, ‘I stopped playing here, is it worth playing now?’ It seems like the people who were turned off just stopped playing and went to play something else.
Even Tekken 8 Season 1 had a lot of haters, but they clearly stuck around to play anyway. I think Season 2 did a thing where people just straight up left, so the percentage of people who can explain it may actually be medium or high. Maybe I’m being optimistic about that, but I will say that their opinions are probably tailored to launch Season 2.
Release Jack-8 in Season 2 was so unbelievably busted that someone managed to climb to a relatively high rank while playing blindfolded.)
I did a podcast-style episode with Speedkicks on one of the more recent patches six months ago – which I guess is not even that recent – he said he was having fun with Tekken 8 again in long sets, and it was because of the cumulative changes. Heat burst, heat smash being more steppable, the HP increase, and like the meta that came out of that made it so that you can have more Tekken interactions, depending on the matchup, and in long sets, things like that. So, a lot of people’s opinions I think are shaped by that Season 2 launch.
There are still so many issues, but the general game does feel playable and more fun for the strongest competitors in a long set format.
Is Tekken 8 worth saving?
Unfortunately, it feels kind of impossible to convince anyone that hasn’t played Tekken to try Tekken 8 because they’re like, ‘Oh, doesn’t that game suck?’
Yeah, the cloud of darkness still lingers. That’s probably the roughest part, the passing interest is much lower.
I mean, do you think Tekken 8 is worth trying to save with seasonal updates, or should they move on to a new game?
I think it’s worth trying to save, but only because I can’t see them investing the effort and resources into a brand new game. The visual appeal is there, the character designs are there. There are a lot of things that people might take for granted in the development of a new game. I think they cooked from a video game package standpoint, and they’ve done so much quality of life stuff that Tekken has needed for a long time to make it a compelling, modern fighting game package.
The only issue with the game is what they’ve done to soil the intermediate experience and high level experience, which is where your loyal fan base is. But if you’re a tourist right now, it’s still a very compelling package. The biggest downside again is, if you want to go deeper, it’s ugly.
I honestly think it’s worth saving seasonally, but they would have to make some crazy – well, crazy from the standpoint of what I perceive to be Japanese development culture, I can only speculate – but big changes like deleting moves. Or maybe doing something like Tekken 8: Ultimate. It’d be like a functionally new season but packaged as a revision of the game. Tekken has done that before, right? Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion, Tekken 7: Fated Retribution, Tekken Tag 2: Ultimate, they’ve done repackaging and a re-launch.
The question is, do they do so at the expense of their live-service vision? Because they wanted to do a live-service Tekken. If they’re brave enough to delete moves and do things like that, then it could work. I think that the direction in the latest patches has been promising.
The gripe that we have right now is they just aren’t patching the game until the TWT Finals are over. Which sucks.
Maybe this is just a me thing, but it almost feels like Tekken 8 is designed more for the viewer experience than playing it? I know that sounds weird, but-
No, I would agree with that.
I think combo length absolutely needs to be addressed.
Have you seen that clip where someone compares Tekken 6 combos to a Lidia combo?
Where they did like 4 combos in Tekken 6 in the time 1 Lidia combo took?
Yeah, yeah, that one. And I completely agree. I think it’s an issue again at that intermediate level. When you’re newer to the game, seeing the neutral interactions and stuff like that is a valuable experience. It genuinely gets in the way of development if you’re just sitting there. Not just from a zoomer attention span perspective, but even for me. I don’t even get to run the interaction back while I’m waiting for a 10 second cutscene to end.
Do you think that the stigma around Tekken being a very hard fighting game is overblown? Tekken has a very different difficulty curve to Street Fighter just because it feels like it’s easier to get into at a low level.
I was re-watching my episode with Sajam discussing the disastrous Tekken 8 Season 2 patch, and that’s what he said, too. He said Tekken might have the best entry point at a total beginner level, and I still completely agree with that.
I think it’s intuitive to hold back to block, I think it’s intuitive to hold down back to block low, I think not jumping makes it kind of clear that, ‘Okay, this is a grounded game.’ That makes the rules around most things feel reasonable. Street Fighter, if I block something in the air, it’s not my turn anymore. That wasn’t intuitive to me as a new Street Fighter player, as an example.
The intermediate level, where you decide to sit down and actually learn stuff, is where it gets insanely hard. I don’t think that part is overblown, but I think it won’t affect most people just starting. The shame of Tekken 8 – both Season 1 and Season 2, but especially Season 2 – is that they made that intermediate experience worse by changing a bunch of frame data.
I gave the analogy that, for the people who studied the game it’s like you deleted their save data in, like, a JRPG, and made them start over. All the studying and labbing and muscle memory they built is now different.
Do you feel like Bandai Namco ignoring the content creator side of Tekken 8 has significantly contributed to declining interest?
Significantly contributed… I want to say no. I think the significant issue was the Season 2 update, but it is a lost opportunity. If Season 2 had been a neutral patch where some things got better things, some things got worse, things ended up being about the same frustration level, it’d be different. Or if things got extremely better? Marginally better? Maybe even a little worse?
Honestly, if it was any other outcome other than what happened, I think we would have stayed on a similar track from Season 1.
There still would have been enough interest for the natural community events to come up, Sajam probably would have hosted another slam, and it would have still garnered interest. What we have is the situation where there’s a dark cloud of mostly negative reviews that is actively killing interest.
You were talking a little bit about how Bamco would have to do some crazy stuff to save Tekken 8 Season 3. What’s at the top of your list for things that would absolutely need to change in order for them to win players back, or maybe even try to find new ones?
I lack a lot of I think zoomed out experience in fighting game life cycles to have a good opinion on this. But I remember, right as Season 2 dropped, I was talking to [Maximilian Dood]. He was saying interest will only come back with a good guest character.
Tekken’s gonna be in the dumps even if the game actually does get better, the general perception won’t change until a good guest character comes. Which is why I think Max is so pro-Tifa outside of already enjoying FF7.
I mean, she would save the game.
Yeah, I think that’s the Season 4 stimpak, maybe Season 5, it would breathe a lot of new interest into the game. Enough time would have passed from the trauma of Season 2 that people would be like, ‘Hey, Tekken is sick!’ I think people will forget.
So, when faced with the question of how we fix it, I see it as a two-pronged approach: First is to fix the game so that competitors aren’t the ones complaining. When you have your top pros complaining, it’s not a good look, right? If Arslan and Knee are enjoying the game verbally on Twitter, I think that that does a lot.
Then, once the trauma has healed, a spike in interest, whether it’s a guest character, or… Yeah, I mean, it’d have to really be a guest character to just bring people back to try it. I think that’s how it gets saved.
Finding optimism for the future
I was initially going to ask if there’s any part of you that regrets branding yourself as the Tekken guy and really tying yourself to this game. But, I watched the Brian F Trash Talk episode and, from what you said there about Tekken being the game you’re most passionate about that you could make videos about forever.
I don’t think so. It could have been League or Smash, Melee specifically. My favorite content creators are the one-game experts like SypherPK, Clix, Reisshub for Fortnite, GothamChess for chess. I like that style of content.
In terms of branding, I recognize the weaknesses of doing that. But, in times where I’ve done more variety things or done streamer collabs, I notice I’m… Like, I did a streamer collab Rust server, and I was uncomfortable the whole time. I didn’t know how to socially interact with other streamers virtually without a shared nerdy thing to go in on. So, the mode of being a Tekken guy is nice.
There is a part of me that feels like branching out to being the fighting game guy seems smart, or like how Maximilian and Sajam occupy this space where they have huge mass appeal. They can talk about multiple games, they can talk about general video games, and also have appeal there. But that doesn’t immediately jump out to me as a point of interest. I think it’s a market I could occupy and I think I have the skills to do it, but people ask me like, “Are you watching the Game Awards?’, and I’m like, ‘Why do I care about the Game Awards?’
It would take some changes internally for me to be better at branching outside of Tekken. Street Fighter and 2XKO I’d say are close. But, if I’m being honest, it’s a mix of just generally sticking to what I’m comfortable with and really enjoying it.
Is there any part of you that’s scared that you’ll one day have to move on from Tekken and do something else if you want to continue a full-time career as a content creator?
Oh, definitely. But, to be clear, my concern is more that Tekken creates a cap, or like a ceiling. I know that’s going to exist, but I’m sure – well, sure is a crazy word – I have strong confidence that 3 to 5 years down the road, I could very much still be a Tekken creator and be okay.
What I’m more concerned about is if there’s untapped potential by being just the “Tekken guy.” Which the answer, statistically, is yes. But also, is there a sustainable path to push beyond that and still have the same satisfaction and day-to-day enjoyment that 2024 Tekken 8 gave me? That’s probably the bigger issue.
I bet I could stick with Tekken, I could go into coaching to stay afloat. But there may be ‘What if?’ questions that come up.
Now 2XKO is out, and content about the game is… I don’t think anybody’s 2XKO content is doing well, to be honest. Do you think that there’s anywhere that Riot has really missed the mark?
The biggest thing is that there are just not enough characters. And the hard part is that Riot is doing so much right. They’re being methodical about their character design, they’re listening to the community, they’re patching at a semi-decent cadence, but I think, bottom line, there are just not enough characters.
So, when people watch content, it’s the same combos. It’s the same setups. It’s the same oki. It’s the same voice lines. And, when they try the game… In a tag fighter, unless you really like a character, you’re not going to want to put up with all the bullsh*t that the game puts you through.
The lack of characters in 2XKO really is just the biggest issue. On one hand, I appreciate everything Riot is doing that’s right, especially with the other fighting game development companies that we deal with.
Riot is doing so many great things, but whatever went on behind the scenes that restricted the development of more characters more quickly is probably what’s coming to bite them right now.
When you were asking, like, ‘Does Tekken just need to do a new version?’ I don’t know if Bandai Namco has that push and industry savviness to pull that off. But I’m confident that, once Riot has more characters in 2XKO, they’ll do a big Box Jam Slam 3 or something like that with new streamers, new this, new that. I’m confident they’ll find a way, so it’s just a matter of time in my eyes.
To me, 2XKO is probably gonna hit. There’s so much there that’s good, it just needs more characters. I’m not too concerned. Although, it was another kick in the nuts that it wasn’t doing well early.
Is there any big goal you have in your mind that you’d really like to tackle this year, in Tekken or beyond?
Yeah, it’s been all, like, life routine stuff. So we just had a big move in August and I had a back injury. So, I feel like most of my fall and winter was just recovering from those two big life events. But, since February, before Season 2, I’ve wanted to have the PhiDX content machine be very smooth and efficient. I wanted to review shorts on a regular basis, review unhinged montages on a regular basis, record daily videos for my main channel on a regular basis.
And I think the combined mix of 2024 burnout, Season 2 dropping, some personal things – nothing terrible, just, you know, pivoting life circumstance. And then the move, then the back injury. This year has been kind of a wash. I’m not writing it off, but it’s more like [2025] reaffirmed that I want good life routines and good systems in place, both in content and my health. This whole winter has kind of been just like a setup for that.
I’ve been trying to eat the same food every day so that I feel better, lose weight, and go to the gym. I’ve just been focusing on a lot of those things, and I’m hoping the circumstances in 2026 improve such that I’ll be allowed to reap the benefits of implementing these better systems in my life. But it has been kind of a reactionary year in many ways.
I mean, it still feels like you did a lot of cool stuff this year. You got invited to a ton of fighting game events, did some Sajam Slams, had Fatal Fury folks reach out to you to preview characters. Give yourself a little credit.
That’s true, that’s true. And, you know, winning the 2XKO Slam was cool. I did really well at the TwitchCon San Diego Street Fighter Slam, I won all my matches. They were calling me, like, “Temu Punk”. Yeah, those little wins were fun for sure.
And, I think that seeing how a lot of us Tekken grinders still haven’t completely left the game gave me a little bit of hope in the sense that, like, even though they’ve uprooted so much of the original game, that Tekken sauce that was cooked up decades ago still has some staying power, you know?
My hope is that, whatever they do to the game in the future, that gets to shine through. What gets me excited is just that Tekken gameplay. And as long as that’s shining, I have the energy to make content. There’s still hope.
(This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.)