Astana to host official Tekken World Tour tournament at Comic Con 2025
Comic Con Astana 2025 will serve as the stage for a major international Tekken 8 competition. From July 9 to 12, the festival will host an official TEKKEN World Tour 2025 (Dojo Series) event, a global tournament in the fighting game genre, Tekken 8, Kazinform News Agency reports.
More than 90 players are expected to compete for ranking points needed to qualify for the global finals, as well as a prize pool of 400,000 KZT. The tournament is organized with the support of Qazaqstan Tekken Fighters (QTF), the largest Tekken fan community in Central Asia.
Professional and semi-professional players from Kazakhstan and neighboring countries will participate, with the event also featuring live-streamed matches, a Top-8 finals showdown, and activities with pro-gamers from other fighting games like Street Fighter 6, Guilty Gear Strive, and Dragon Ball FighterZ.
Beyond the main matches, attendees can enjoy exhibition games, mini-events, challenges, and meet-and-greets with esports professionals. A special Tekken 8 merchandise zone will be set up for fans. The four-day program begins July 9 with registration and a Dragon Ball FighterZ side event, followed by main matches and a Guilty Gear Strive event on July 10, playoffs and Street Fighter 6 sessions on July 11, and the grand finale on July 12.
Participants can register for the tournament via this link. Entry requires a valid Comic Con festival ticket, available at comicconastana.kz/ticket.
The Tekken tournament will take place in the Otaku Zone, a vibrant celebration of Asian pop culture, featuring anime, manga, fashion, music, and dramas. The game zone will offer a nostalgic yet interactive experience, with access to a 1,000+ game library, co-op play with a popular blogger, and two full-scale gaming sections: modern (PlayStation 5, PCs, racing wheels) and retro (SEGA, Nintendo, PS1, PS2). A standout attraction will be the Retro Genesis booth, showcasing updated classic consoles, the Canonic line supports original cartridges, while the Fusion line emulates multiple retro platforms with modern features.
Comic Con Astana 2025 is set to be the largest in the event’s history and among the biggest pop culture conventions in the CIS region. Running from July 9 to 13, it will, for the first time, span two major venues: Astana Arena and Barys Arena. Since its launch in 2019, Comic Con Astana has grown from a local gathering into a major international platform uniting film, animation, comics, gaming, cosplay, and digital art.
The 2025 headliner is renowned British actor and director Andy Serkis, celebrated for revolutionizing motion-capture performance. His most iconic roles include Gollum (The Lord of the Rings), Caesar (Planet of the Apes), Supreme Leader Snoke (Star Wars), Alfred Pennyworth (The Batman, 2022), King Kong (Peter Jackson’s remake), Ulysses Klaue (Marvel Cinematic Universe), and Kino Loy (Andor). Serkis also directed Venom 2, Mowgli, and the upcoming The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum.
Last year's headliners included Mads Mikkelsen, Pilou Asbæk, Michael Rooker, Sean Gunn, and Percy Hynes White.
