It feels like only yesterday that the fighting game community watched surprise South Korean competitor Hyeon-ho “Rangchu” Jeong crowned global Tekken 7 champion in Amsterdam. It wasn’t, obviously, but it was only three months ago, and the folks behind the Tekken World Tour already have new details to share about what competitors can expect from the circuit in 2019, the full breadth of which were announced today.

Those details include a way bigger prize pool, more love for grassroots tournaments, and a big first for the World Tour event schedule: the inclusion of an African event in the lineup.

Hyeon-ho “Rangchu” Jeong is the new Tekken 7 champion after winning the Tekken World Tour finals over the weekend at an event in Amsterdam. His victory was the culmination of a year’s worth of competition, but at times it felt like he was fighting against history and even his own character en route to earning his crown.

Adnan "Blackbeard" Zaman came into Paris Games Week as the 51st player on the Tekken 7 leaderboards in Europe. But a massive run through the Tekken World Tour event this weekend took him all the way up to the top, placing him in the top three of his region just ahead of the world tour finals.

The end of a Tekken 7 tournament has sparked some wild speculation about what, exactly, a trophy plaque says. When the winners got on stage at South East Asia Major last Sunday, the tournament organisers handed the first-place cup to Byeong "Qudans" Mun Son. Then, they told him to turn it around so the plaque couldn't be seen. Meanwhile, third-place winner Kim "JDCR" Hyun Jin kept reaching for the trophy, perhaps to turn it around ... or to claim it for himself.