Namco Bandai plans to release a digital card game based on its popular Tekken fighting series.
The publisher will release Tekken Card Tournament for smartphones, tablets, and web browsers in “the next few weeks,” according to the company’s press release. The free-to-play deck-building title will offer high-quality visuals and a strategic gameplay experience.
Later this year, Namco Bandai will release physical booster decks that players can buy at stores. Fans can use these real-world cards to play a standalone version of the game, or they can scan them into the Tekken Card Tournament app for virtual use.
Tekken is a long-running fighting-game franchise from Namco. It debuted in arcades in 1994. The latest release, Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition, hit Nintendo’s most recent home console on its November 18 launch date.
Tekken Card Tournament’s combination of digital and physical goods echoes the model publisher Activision implemented in its Skylanders series of action games. In those titles, gamers must buy actual toys to use in their video game. Skylanders is hugely successful due to this business model, and Namco Bandai is surely hoping to produce similar results with this card game.