NieR: Automata's 2B was initially planned as a guest character for Tekken 7
According to Harada, however, they realized she'd be a better fit for Soul Calibur 6
NieR: Automata ended up being one of the surprise smash hits of the last console generation thanks to its engaging combat, rich plot threads and immediately recognizable characters led by 2B.
The protagonist got so big that she became one of the first DLC characters added to Soul Calibur 6, but there was apparently a time when she was first being worked on as a guest fighter for Tekken 7.
At least that is according to longtime Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada, who revealed the reported decision earlier today when talking about the continued sales successes of both T7 and Automata — both of which now sit with 6 million copies sold each.
"I was looking over the download sales and monthly active user data for Tekken 7 and not only did sales numbers not decrease in year 2 or 3, monthly active users actually increased, to my surprise," said Harada on Twitter as translated by our own Nicholas 'MajinTenshinhan' Taylor.
The Bandai Namco boss continued that Tekken 7 managed to double its first year sales of 3 million copies over years two and three with the only other game he could find to produce similar numbers being NieR: Automata.
"It looks like both games will be hitting 7 million sold very soon," he concluded.
This led another user to ask about 2B joining the battle, perhaps missing the memo that she's already in Soul Calibur, to which Harada actually replied to with the interesting tidbit of what could have been.
"Originally, there was a time when 2B was planned to become a guest character for Tekken, and we were moving forward with it behind the scenes," responded Harada. "However, the discussion changed to 'Isn't she actually a better fit for Soul Calibur?' and that's what happened."
Tekken 7 is certainly no stranger to the realm of guest characters either considering they included Street Fighter's Akuma, Fatal Fury's Geese Howard, Final Fantasy 15's Noctis and The Walking Dead's Negan.
Considering she primarily fights with a sword and can change her floating weapons mid-battle, 2B would have probably shared a lot in common with Noctis.
So it's not out of the realm of believability that she could fit into the Tekken system though it's probably for the best that she traveled back into the past to fight Mitsurugi instead.
It's also encouraging to hear that Tekken has continued to pick up steam in terms of both sales and continued player support going into what'll be the game's fourth year on the home market.
