The article contains all the important info on this TEKKEN World Tour Master event and Esports World Cup qualifier.

It's been around three weeks since TEKKEN 8 got a huge update, Patch 1.05. This period is quite enough for esports professionals to adapt to adjusted movesets and demonstrate competitive balance. The fighting games community (FGC) had such an opportunity at the TEKKEN 8 CEO 2024 tournamentthat took place from June 28 to June 30, in Florida.

In addition to showcasing the current strengths of the TEKKEN 8 roster, the competitors fought for the World Tour points and the Esports World Cup qualifying spots.

TEKKEN 8 at CEO 2024: Stream

All TEKKEN 8 matches at the fighting games esports event CEO 2024 were streamed on the official TEKKEN channel on Twitch. You can watch the top 8 part right here, embedded below.

CEO 2024 TEKKEN 8 results

After the first two days of the CEO 2024, the TEKKEN 8 matches formed these top 8 brackets:

Top 8 recap

ATIF from Pakistan played Dragunov through the whole top 8 part. It feels like the character is pretty strong after the recent TEKKEN 8 Patch 1.05 — the winner of DreamHack Summer 2024, ULSAN, also plays Dragunov, and he even abandoned Reina (for now).

ATIF defeated the Japanese player KEISUKE in the winners' semi (Kazuya Mishima). In the winner's final, ATIF played against Doujin from the Philippines, a player who switched between TEKKEN 8 characters a lot during CEO 2024. In his semi-final, Doujin played Claudio. For the match vs ATIF, he took Lili, Shaheen, and Marshall Law for different rounds — but lost and fell to the lower bracket.

KEISUKE with his Kazuya made it to the loser's final, eliminating JDCR and JoKa on the way. He stopped Doujin as well, and bringing even more TEKKEN characters to the fight did not help the opponents: Zafina and Leo.

In the grand final, ATIF and KEISUKE played again, and this time the fight was much closer. KEISUKE had a bracket-reset point, but then ATIF won two games in a row.ATIF is the TEKKEN 8 champion at CEO 2024. Congratulations!

Tekken 8 final brackets at CEO 2024 (image via start.gg)
Tekken 8 final brackets at CEO 2024 (image via start.gg)
Placement
Player
TEKKEN 8 character
TWT 2024 points earned
1Team Falcons | ATIFDragunov560
2ZETA DIVISION | KEISUKEKazuya Mishima400
3Blacklist International | DoujinClaudio, Lili, Shaheen, Marshall Law, Zafina, and Leo300
4Team Falcons | JoKaFeng220
5-6Karmine Corp | JDCRDragunov180
5-6VARREL | AOAlisa, Victor180
7-8Ninjas in Pyjamas | K-WissHwoarang150
7-8Ninjas in Pyjamas | BilalBryan150

This victory brought ATIF an invite to the T8 Esports World Cup 2024. The other spot went to Doujin, as the second player at the tournament, KEISUKE, already qualified to the EWC (from DreamHack Summer 2024).

CEO 2024 TEKKEN 8 Format and schedule

Due to the exceptional popularity of TEKKEN 8 and the high stakes at CEO 2024, many players registered for the matches. Therefore, the tournament has four stages.

  • Round 1: 32 pools; the participants aim for the top four placements
  • Round 2: 4 pools; six players in each pool continue fighting for the victory
  • Top 24 to top 8
  • Top 8: final brackets

The full schedule of the CEO 2024 TEKKEN 8 tournament is in the table below.

Tournament stage
Date
Starting time (ET)
Starting time (PT)
Round 1 p1Friday, June 2812 p.m.9 a.m.
Round 1 p2Saturday, June 2912 p.m.9 a.m.
Round 2 Saturday, June 294 p.m.1 p.m.
Top 24 to top 8Saturday, June 298 p.m.5 p.m.
Top 8Sunday, June 306 p.m.3 p.m.

Esports World Cup 2024 TEKKEN 8 qualifiers 

As part of the Road to the Esports World Cup 2024 qualifiers, the CEO 2024 TEKKEN 8 tournament is a chance for two players to win the qualifying spots. Theoretically, the participants should achieve the top 2 placements for this. Practically, even lower places may bring the invites—as it happened at DreamHack Summer 2024. Some of the qualified players still participate in these matches, and if they are in the top 2, the invites go to other players.

Here is a list of previous qualifiers and TEKKEN 8 players who won their spots.

  • Evo Japan 2024, four spots: Chikurin, Chanel, LowHigh, and Mangja
  • Battle Arena Melbourne 14, two spots: ULSAN and Yagami
  • DreamHack Dallas 2024, eight spots: Arslan Ash, Mulgold, Rangchu, CBM, Farzeen, AK, Nobi, and Sephiblack, and 
  • Super Tournament 2024 Summer, two spots: JeonDDing and THE JON
  • DreamHack Summer 2024, eight spots: KaneAndTrench, Raef, KEISUKE, Jodd, kkokkoma, EDGE, Knee, and Meo-IL

There are just two more opportunities left after CEO 2024

  • The MIXUP 2024: two spots — a big event in France, from July 13 to July 14.
  • Riyadh Festival LCQ: four spots — the Last Chance Qualifier right before the Tekken 8 tournament at the Esports World Cup 2024 in August.

TEKKEN World Tour 2024 Master event

The main reason for top-level TEKKEN 8 players who already qualified for the EWC 2024 to travel to Florida and participate in CEO is a chance to win precious TEKKEN World Tour standing points. The tournament here has the highest level: it’s a Master event. The top players earn from 150 to 560 TWT points.

Path to the TWT Finals (image via Bandai Namco Esports)
Path to the TWT Finals (image via Bandai Namco Esports)

Top players to watch out for

Some of the biggest names in the competitive TEKKEN can be found among the CEO 2024 participants. These players deserve special attention — you may learn quite a lot from their matches. The list below highlights only a few TEKKEN 8 esports competitors to watch out for during CEO 2024.

  • chikurin — the winner of Evo Japan 2024
  • JDCR — a talented player who lost his chance to qualify for the EWC due to some technical issues during DreamHack Dallas 2024
  • JoeCrush — the winner of the TWT 2024 LCQ. He performs pretty well in the online environment
  • kkokkoma — a player from South Korea, who should prove the power of his region while other top competitors of the new generation are absent at CEO 2024
  • ty — this player is one of the best chances for the US TEKKEN community to still qualify for the EWC
  • JoKa — one of the strongest TEKKEN 8 players in Europe
  • Fear of Silence — the player achieved quite a few victories at smaller US tournaments

Please note that it’s not predictions, as fighting esports is most often totally unpredictable. These players have remarkable skills, and it’s interesting to follow their performance regardless of the match outcome. 

The biggest fighting games esports event happens in three weeks after CEO: Evo 2024 has an exceptional level of a TWT Master+ qualifier. Stick around on esports.gg for everything interesting and important about TEKKEN 8 tournaments and the game itself.