Update (September 23rd 2024): The Red Bull Golden Letters 2024 grassroots Tekken 8 tournament players and talent have been revealed.
Completing the the line-up of global pro players is Mohammed “the-SAM-brother” Al Jabri, Evo 2024 runner up Atif “Atif” Ijaz, Brits Kane “KaneAndTrench” Heartfield, Hasan “JoKa” Rehman and inaugural Red Bull Golden Letters winner Richie “Ayorichie” Olusanya.
Hosting this year’s Red Bull Golden Letters is Jamil “Jammerz” McKenzie, who will be leading the broadcast live from the Red Bull Gaming Sphere. Providing live insight and commentary across the tournament, Steven “Tasty Steve” Scott, Reepal “RIP” Parbhoo, Ryan “Bubsy” Sinclair and Kobi “K-Wiss” Scarlett also join the broadcast as commentators.
Akhil “Tetsu” Kakar has also been named the UK qualifier winner.
Update: Ulsan wins Red Bull Golden Letters 2024
Red Bull Golden Letters 2024 Schedule & Format
- Saturday, 28th September: Starting at 11:30am GMT, this year’s tournament will see the first of four five-player group stages. The top two players from each of these groups will immediately advance to day two’s winners bracket, and the third place players fighting for their spot in the losers bracket.
- Sunday, 29th September: Starting at 10:30am, the Finals will kick off in a high-stakes double elimination format. The top eight winners from day one will compete to keep their spot in the winner’s bracket, while the four hopefuls in the loser’s bracket will need to battle their way back and earn a spot in the Grand Finals.
Open Qualifier Winners
- Mateo “SourPiggy” Davila – North America Qualifier Winner
- Akhil “Tetsu” Kakar – United Kingdom Qualifier Winner
- Nino “Nino” Schwarz – Europe Qualifier Winner
- “Shounen” – Japan Qualifier Winner
Invited Pro Players
- Red Bull Player Arslan “Arslan Ash” Siddique
- Red Bull Player Hoa “Anakin” Luu
- Alexandre “AK” Laverez
- Kane “KaneAndTrench” Heartfield
- Hozumi “YUYU” Matoba
- Atif “Atif” Ijaz
- Kim “JDCR” Hyun-jin
- Stephen “Speedkicks” Stafford
- Richie “Ayorichie” Olusanya
- Lim “Ulsan” Soo-hoon
- Hasan “JoKa” Rehman
- Georges “Jodd” Nguende
- Jae-hyun “CherryBerryMango” Kim
- Benjamin “Yagami” Torngdee
- Joseph “Joey Fury” Bennett
- Mohammed “the-SAM-brother” Al Jabri
Broadcast talent for Red Bull Golden Letters 2024
Stage Host & Interviewer:
- Jamil “Jammerz” McKenzie
Rotating Commentators:
- Steven “Tasty Steve” Scott
- Reepal “RIP” Parbhoo
- Ryan “Bubsy” Sinclair
- Kobi “K-Wiss” Scarlett
Where to watch Golden Letters
Red Bull Golden Letters will be streamed live from Red Bull’s Twitch and YouTube channels from 11:30am GMT on 28 September and 10:30am GMT on 29 September.
On Twitch, the event will be broadcast in English, with a number of costreams available across the globe, including:
- French – NormanGenius
- Italian – Cydonia
- Korean – SPIRITZERO
Original article (June 26th): Red Bull Golden Letters 2024: Tekken 8 London tournament returns with new global qualifiers including a UK offline event
Red Bull’s returning Tekken esports event, Red Bull Golden Letters 2024, will be taking place for a third consecutive year.
Following Tekken 8’s recent launch, the event will once again be hosted at London’s Red Bull Gaming Sphere, on September 28th and 29th 2024. The venue will be transformed into an ‘ornate’ golden bank vault. Matchups will take place within the vault, which will be locked up until the winner is decided.
For the first time, four global open qualifier spots (across North America, Europe, Japan and the UK) will be hosted, offering the global Tekken community a chance to play against some of the world’s best professional players. These qualifiers will run between July and September.
The qualifiers will take place on the following dates:
- North America (Online) – 10th July
- Europe (Online) – 13th August
- Japan (Offline) – 17th August
- United Kingdom (Offline) – 7th September
Red Bull Players Hoa ‘Anakin’ Luu and Arslan ‘Arslan Ash’ Siddique will star alongside other pros including Hasan ‘JoKa’ Rehman, Lim ‘Ulsan’ Soo-hoon, Alexandre ‘AK’ Laverez, and ‘YUYU’, with more top players set to be revealed in the coming weeks. There will be an expanded line-up of 16 invited professionals.
This year’s Red Bull Golden Letters will be the first to be played on Tekken 8 unveiled earlier this year at Red Bull Pindrop, and will feature the return of its unique format: encouraging perfect play and clutching under pressure, players can achieve ‘Perfect’ and ‘Great’ scores, aka ‘The Golden Letters’, to win matches automatically.
Day one of the finals weekend will see an all-new 20-player group stage, with numerous matchups throughout the day. The top 12 players will progress to day two’s Double Elimination. Day two will feature an East vs West battle before the Grand Finals.
Last year’s Red Bull Golden Letters 2023 champion, Jae-Min ‘Knee’ Bae, claimed the title after beating two-time Evo champion and fellow South Korean Tekken player Hyunjin ‘JDCR’ Kim 6-0 in Tekken 7.
Red Bull player Arslan ‘Arslan Ash’ Siddique said: “It’s so good to see Red Bull Golden Letters returning for a third time. It’s become a real moment for the Tekken scene to look forward to every year, and new global qualifiers are great to give more opportunities and add even more wildcards to this competition.
“With the competitive scene still working out Tekken 8, the format adds such a great challenge for us, and is going to be so fun for fans to see play out – I can’t wait!”
Gopuff will continue its partnership with the Red Bull Gaming Sphere by joining as the Official Grocery and Snacks Delivery Partner for Red Bull Golden Letters 2024, supplying competitors and talent with everyday products.
Red Bull Golden Letters will be broadcast from the Red Bull Gaming Sphere in London and live on the Twitch and YouTUbe Red Bull channels.
For more information on Red Bull Golden Letters, including the Open Qualifiers, you can visit redbull.co.uk/goldenletters. Sign-ups to participate in the Red Bull Golden Letters 2024 Online Qualifiers are also open here.
Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
