Tekken 8fans have asked Bandai Namco to add various features to the hit fighting game in the months since its release. Perhaps the strangest thing they’ve requested as of late is aTekken 8stage set in a Waffle House. For the uninitiated, Waffle House is a popular breakfast food chain that’s mostly situated in the Midwestern and Southern United States. Due to numerous viral videos of people fighting in Waffle House locations across the States, the restaurant chain has also been the subject of a litany of memes, with some jokingly labeling it as a fight club.
Because of its meme-worthy nature, demand for aWaffle House-themed stage inTekken 8has been high; so much so, in fact, that requests from fans have caught the attention ofTekkenseries producer Katsuhiro Harada, who has commented on the matter on multiple occasions.
In March 2024, after asking gamers to explain to him the background behind the Waffle House memes, Harada told fans that Bandai Namco couldn’t add WH toTekken 8without the American restaurant chain’s permission. A few months later, the Japanese game director brought up the subject again in a post on Twitter, expressing his confusion about Waffle House’s strange culture. Harada’s willingness to repeatedly acknowledge the WH requests has given fans hope that the breakfast food chain may be added toTekken 8in the future, but judging from some recent news regarding the long-running fighting game franchise, this will likely never happen.
A Waffle House-Themed Stage in Tekken 8 Will Probably Never Happen
Katsuhiro Harada Tried (And Failed) to Get Colonel Sanders in Tekken
Inan interview with TheGamer, Katsuhiro Harada mentioned that getting companies to approve potential collaborations withTekkenwas challenging. To prove his point, Harada revealed that he once tried to get Colonel Sanders, the founder and mascot of Kentucky Fried Chicken, as a playable character inTekken. At the time that this happened, he was dead-set on the matter. In fact, Harada actually went to the head office of KFC in Japan in order to ask permission to use the company’s license.
Sadly, despite Harada’s efforts, KFC turned down his request, andColonel Sanders was never added to anyTekkengameas a result. Michael Murray, a game designer who worked onTekken 8alongside Harada, provided some additional context about the situation. He stated that KFC “wasn’t very open to the idea,” potentially because the company didn’t want its mascot to be portrayed in combat. This debacle, Murray added, showed just “how difficult these types of discussions are.”
KFC’s Refusal to Put Colonel Sanders in Tekken Suggests That a Waffle House x Tekken 8 Collab is Unlikely
Given how dismissive Kentucky Fried Chicken was towards the idea ofColonel Sanders being a playable characterinTekken, it seems likely that Waffle House would be hesitant to let its likeness be featured in the fighting game series, as well. Katsuhiro Harada said something to this effect in the interview when he reiterated that a WH stage inTekken 8is not something that Bandai Namco “can accomplish on [its] own.”
Indeed, without Waffle House’s approval, the idea ofaTekken 8stagebased on the company is as good as dead. Unfortunately, the concept will likely never see the light of day for this exact reason. Ultimately, though, until Waffle House provides an official statement on the matter, the company’s potential inclusion inTekken 8will still remain a hot topic among fans.
