The history of property crossovers in video games just got a bit stranger, with the confirmation that as Bandai Namco is adding The Walking Dead‘s Negan to Tekken 7 as a playable fighter at the end of this month.
Negan, who is played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan in AMC’s zombie drama, will arrive on February 28th as a DLC add-on priced at $7.99 USD (which is £6.18 in GBP). Of course, if you’ve already got the season pass, you won’t have to pay again.
One the same day, Julia Chang will become available at the price of $5.99 (which works out as £4.65). Both of these additions had their release date confirmed in this video…
Previously, just over six months ago, Negan’s arrival in the game was teased with this video…
“Your eyes do not deceive you, your pounding heart does not betray you; Negan from AMC’s The Walking Dead is making his way into Tekken 7 to deal a world of pain in the Tekken universe,” reads a statement from Bandai Namco. “Negan, beloved by fans of The Walking Dead for his charismatic yet sinister demeanor, is ready to destroy all challengers, regardless of their stature in the Tekken universe.”
Tekken 7 is no stranger to crossover characters (the game’s roster currently includes Final Fantasy 15‘s Noctis, Street Fighter‘s Akuma, and Fatal Fury‘s Geese Howard), but this latest announcement is on another level. Not only is Negan not from a video game, but he’s not exactly the character you think of when you’re dreaming of pop culture characters who might join the roster of a fighting game.
The other interesting tidbit to take away from the announcement/video is that it appears Tekken 7‘s Negan will be based on the Jeffrey Dean Morgan version of the character. So, on top of getting over the visual of Negan in Tekken, we’ll also have to accept the popular character actor as a fighter who can go toe-to-toe with some characters who are just shy of digital gods.
This addition also means that all bets are off as it concerns future additions to the Tekken 7 roster. So long as Bandai Namco is trying to capitalise on the success of popular TV shows, may we suggest The Hound from Game of Thrones, Mike from Breaking Bad, and a version of Sheldon from The Big Bang Theory who is incapable of defending himself but is capable of expressing the tremendous amount of pain that he is in be added to the game?
As we hear more about Tekken 7‘s barmy roster, we’ll be sure to keep you updated.