'Tekken 7' release date: Early 2016 debut?

Tekken 7 gameplayBandai Namco

While Japanese fans continue to enjoy the latest installment from Bandai Namco's long-running and extremely popular "Tekken" franchise, fans around the world are still counting days and months for "Tekken 7" to roll out to Western shores. Although it has been already confirmed that the arcade game title will have its PS4 counterpart by next year, Bandai Namco has yet to come out with a specific date, leaving global fans hanging.

Meanwhile, speculations say the global rollout of "Tekken 7" could be in the opening months of 2016 and may even come out as early as February.

Although Bandai Namco still has to announce a release date for the console version, the company may well target an early release date for "Tekken 7" to tackle head-on a major competitor, Capcom's "Street Fighter" franchise. The next installment, "Street Fighter V," is slated for a February release. In addition, a February rollout date for "Tekken 7" is also in line with celebrating the first year of the gaming title, as the arcade version was first seen on Feb. 18 this year.

Meanwhile, although Bandai Namco has not yet made any headway in confirming the release schedule for the title, it seems that fans will thoroughly enjoy every battle once "Tekken 7" rolls out.

According to Attack of the Fanboy, game director Katsuhiro Harada let slip that the upcoming console version will be taking advantage of new and improved visual styles and design. Answering a fan question on Twitter, Harada stated that they were "working on new graphics."

While it is unclear if this means that the console version of "Tekken 7" will come out using a new graphics engine or just an improvement on the current aesthetics, fans expect the new title to be one of the best-looking titles when it finally rolls out. "Tekken 7" already got favorable reviews for its arcade version, which was made using Unreal Engine 4.