Meet HK Jr. and Joey Fury, FaZe Clan’s gambit to take over the Tekken world
Bandai Namco/FaZe Clan/Joey Fury/HK Jr.With the signing of HK Jr. and Joey Fury, FaZe Clan is looking to go all-in on the Tekken scene ahead of Tekken 8’s release. Dexerto sat down with both competitors to ask them about joining the org, their aspirations as competitors, and what it takes to truly be one of the best.
Although they were signed at the same time, Joey Fury and HK Jr.’s path to the top couldn’t be more different. Joseph ‘Joey Fury’ Bennett is a veteran Tekken competitor – someone who’s been playing Tekken for over 20 years – and boasts a decorated career across multiple Tekken titles. Haktan ‘HK Jr.’ Kocaman, meanwhile, is just 21 years old, and has only been competing in Tekken tournaments for a few years now.
Despite both players having incredibly different backgrounds and coming from two different generations of Tekken talent, both of these pros are at the top of their game.
To get a feel for what this signing meant for them, as well as how they plan to use the FaZe Clan name with the faith of one of esports’ biggest orgs behind them, Dexerto sat with both competitors and asked about what it takes to become one of the best Tekken players in the world.
FaZe Clan has allowed Joey Fury to flourish as a competitor
Ryan GlusJoey Fury’s fighting game career started in the same way that many of the scene’s longest-standing competitors’ have gone: Working a 9-5 job and playing for hundreds of dollars, rather than hundreds of thousands some of the highest-profile tournaments command nowadays. His drive to compete started with a pure passion for the Tekken series, and, although that passion has remained almost two decades later, it’s now a full-time job rather than just a hobby.
The FGC has been around far longer than most esports circuits, but the scene has survived off of the passion of the fans rather than massive brand deals and franchised leagues that surround massive esports like League of Legends or Valorant.
That said, you won’t see Joey complaining about the support from a big sponsor like FaZe Clan. The freedom to focus on competing full-time is an invaluable asset when it comes to taking his play to the next level.
“There have been stretches throughout this Tekken 7 career, if you want to call it that, where I have been working,” he admitted. “And those were definitely the hardest periods. Trying to work a 9-5 during the day, and then come home and enter a late-night online bracket. If you win, you’re probably gonna be up ’til like, two in the morning, and then your sleep is wrecked for the whole week. It’s really challenging. Anybody who’s working full-time and succeeding in Tekken has my utmost respect, because it’s really hard.”
Joey Fury | Twitter“I do feel that I have certain advantages and privileges being able to do it full-time. For one, just the ability to get up and go to a tournament and travel without having to worry about, like, ‘Okay, got to call off work,’ or, ‘Got to come home and get right back to the work grind.’ The travel is really one of the most demanding things about playing this game and trying to make it work.”
So, I think that’s the biggest advantage you get when you can do this full-time; just the amount of energy that you can devote to travel without having to worry about crashing and burning in other aspects of your life.”
The process of Joey Fury being where he is now, signed with FaZe Clan and travelling internationally to the world’s biggest fighting game tournaments, hasn’t been an easy one. Being a full-time fighting game competitor was incredibly rare when Tekken 7 released in 2016, but things have changed drastically since then.
“Now, here in 2023, this is what I do full time. I train in Tekken, I teach people how to play Tekken, and I go to tournaments and try to win. It became feasible, just kind of by accident, just never giving up on that passion. It just… happened. And that’s awesome.”
And, with Joey having entered his first tournament in 2004, he’s got around 19 years worth of competitive experience under his belt. That time investment has paid off in spades for him.
Joey’s been playing longer than some competitors have been alive
In an odd way, Joey Fury and fellow competitor Hoa ‘Anakin’ Luu’s fates are intertwined. Both players learned Jack and became known for being strong with the character, albeit they were Jack players far before their first meeting. Both grew up as competitors, entering tournaments before they were teenagers. And both are absolute monsters at Tekken.
“Anakin has been one of my biggest inspirations using [Jack] over the years. It was interesting, because we both kind of came up in our respective cities as the young hopeful that’s one day gonna be really great. I think he started in his scene in Tekken 4 when he was probably, like, 10 or 11. I started my scene like Tekken 5 when I was like 12. So, we’ve been playing a really long time.”
Anakin was one of the very first high-profile Tekken players in the US, and he’s stood the test of time as a top-tier competitor who not only has the skills to win, but the passion to put on Tekken events like the Anakin Invitational. And, with Joey Fury standing alongside him as an equal, it was only a matter of time until a big organization like FaZe Clan recognized Joey as one of the most talented players in the game.
These two have earned their place in Tekken history, and, though there are other strong North American players like the up-and-coming Genghis D0n, recently-signed Cloud9 player Cuddle_Core, Lil Majin, JoeCrush, and brothers Shadow and Joonya, it’s no surprise that FaZe Clan came to Joey Fury when they were looking for the best player NA had to offer.
What’s more, Joey has a place to step right back into when Tekken 8 comes out. Though he bounced between characters like Marduk and Paul through his Tekken 7 career, he plans to make a return to form and main Jack again in the eighth entry.
“It’s really important for me to feel like a connection to the character that I’m playing and feeling excited about using them, and I’ve definitely got that going with Jack right now. He’s really the only character I’m looking toward. With Tekken 8, I think I’m just going to be full-time on Jack. I know Paul’s in the game. I’ll definitely give him a shot, but I’m very motivated and hard-set on Jack. I can’t wait to be a Jack main again. Tekken 8’s gonna be sick.”
FaZe HK Jr.’s here to prove a new player can take on the world
Gamers8The Tekken series has been around for a long, long time. Although Joey Fury is one of few legendary Western players who has been competing for over a decade and is still at the very top of his game, there are dozens of other players from Eastern countries like JDCR, Knee, Book, Saint, Nobi, Chikurin, Jeondding and more who are monstrously good at Tekken and have been travelling internationally for years. And that’s without mentioning Pakistani players like Arslan Ash and Atif Butt.
That makes it all the more special that HK Jr. has been able to, in the span of two and a half years, go from a relatively new Tekken player to tearing up the tournament circuit and take down some of the world’s best players – all while playing Heihachi, a very old-school Tekken character that many other players chose to drop as Tekken 7 has progressed and evolved.
The fact that he’s against veteran players is something that HK was well-aware of coming into the competitive scene, but he didn’t let that stop him from trying to be one of the game’s best. In fact, he thinks that him being a relatively new player may be an advantage.
“The reason I think I stood out a bit more is because I’m a bit younger compared to most other competitors at the top,” he told us. “Most other competitors are a bit older. Average is between like, 25-30.”
Right before getting signed, HK Jr. took first place in Tekken at the Headstomper tournament, a huge fighting game event in Scandinavia. Despite high-tier European talent like JoKa and Sephiblack as well as Kkokkoma, one of South Korea’s best players, entering the tournament, he managed to take home first prize.
“I finally achieved one of my goals, which was winning a major tournament. It has made me feel really confident, since I was able to beat super strong opponents like Kkokkoma, an international threat, someone like JoKa, who’s also incredibly good and an international threat, and many more strong players. It was proof to me that I can keep up at the top level, and it has motivated me to strive for bigger victories.”
After winning Headstomper, HK knew this was the time to get serious as a competitor. And, according to him, FaZe Clan approached him before he even had the chance to look for sponsors on his own. They knew he was talented and swooped in to sign him.
“I was hoping I could find a sponsor that would help a bit with travelling and making it to tournaments. And then, suddenly, FaZe happened and my world just turned upside down. Suddenly, this org I’ve been a fan of since was like 10 or 11 – when the news came with FaZe, it was just unreal for me.”
Keeping it in the Mishima family
It turns out that, even though HK didn’t grow up competing in Tekken like Joey did, it was still a major part of his childhood. His reason for choosing Heihachi over other characters was almost solely based on his brother destroying him in earlier Tekken entries when they were young.
“While growing up, I used to play Tekken a lot with my big brother. Funnily enough, he would always pick Heihachi. Back then, he would beat my ass with Heihachi, and I’d always get salty about it. Now, so many years later when I discovered Tekken 7 again, I was like, ‘Ok, I want to play Heihachi.’ I feel inspired by my brother.”
HK claimed that he hadn’t even played Tekken 7 until late 2019/early 2020 and kicked off 2022 with some top 16 finishes at events stacked with high-tier players. Despite Haktan coming into the game late with a character that’s rarely played anymore, he’s managed to become one of the best competitors in Europe.
Unfortunately, HK has the fairly unique problem of Heihachi being canonically dead in Tekken 8. Though Tekken has had some wild narrative developments in the past and Heihachi being revived somehow isn’t off the table, it’s highly unlikely Heihachi will be available on launch. For now, it seems that HK will have to make the tough choice of finding a new main for Tekken 8.
Fortunately, he’s got a plan.
Bandai Namco“As I have been playing the father the whole time, I think it may be time to go to the son. I would try playing Kazuya, but Brian Fury and Hwoarang also interest me.”
Between Tekken 7’s remaining lifespan and the hotly anticipated release of Tekken 8, HK’s just thrilled to be along for the ride and a part of FaZe Clan. In comparison to Joey Fury, his career is just getting started. But don’t think that has made HK any less determined to win and put everything he has into finishing Tekken 7 strong.
“Now that I’m signed with FaZe and I’m able to go to more events, I feel like I’ve been practicing a lot more. I feel much hungrier to win than before.”
Putting Western Tekken players on the map
With arcades having all but died off in the NA and much of Europe, players who are used to practicing in an offline environment in other parts of the world will have a natural edge. Against the best players from Pakistan, South Korea, and other eastern countries like Japan and Thailand, competitors from North America and Europe are often fighting an uphill battle.
Seeing as Joey was competing when Arslan Ash and other Pakistani competitors broke the scene open, he recounted what it was like seeing the Tekken scene shift so rapidly and revealed that it wasn’t as much of a surprise to him and other pros as it was to most viewers.
“Man, it was kind of surreal. It wasn’t the first time that I had heard about Pakistan as a second region, and I think it wasn’t the first time for a lot of people. But a lot of our experiences hearing about it – like, for instance, I went to a tournament in the UK in 2018, called VS Fighting. And there’s a player from the UK named Asim, who was familiar with a Pakistani scene.”
Joey continued, “[Asim] is a great Tekken player in his own right, and I just remember him being like, ‘Oh yeah, over in Pakistan? I’m nothing. Those guys will just mash me up no problem.’ And I’m like, ‘Damn, really?’ I think a lot of people were like, ‘Yeah, yeah, yeah’, like, you kind of believe them but you don’t entirely.”
“And then Arslan showed up at EVO Japan, sleep-deprived, in loser’s bracket out the gate, and just made a whole losers run and won EVO. That was the moment it clicked for me.”
Caitlin O’haraPakistan would go on to send several high-tier competitors to international tournaments, players that are on both Joey and Haktan’s radar. In Joey’s words, these new Pakistani players “turned Tekken on its head forever.”
However, a huge part of this gap is due to how much rarer in-person practice with other high-tier Tekken players is for Western competitors. In the case of Pakistan, those players came up on arcade machines and practiced in what can only be described as a hyperbolic time chamber, sharpening their skills and getting practice in an environment free of latency where they can all improve together. It’s the same story for many South Korean and Japanese Tekken greats who grew up in arcades and are still competing to this day.
Both Joey Fury and HK Jr. were adamant about how necessary in-person practice is, with Haktan speaking at length about how much he’s learned in such a short time through travelling to tournaments and how crucial that experience has been to his rapid growth as a Tekken player.
“Travelling around and going to in-person events is really essential to being a top-level competitor. I think playing online and out of your own home is a great space for getting better, but – every pro player will tell you this, and every pro player will already have experienced this – if you spend a lot of time at events, talking to other players, playing with them, making friends with them, talking more with them, you get much, much better.” HK explained. “It helps you understand multiple playstyles every region has. As an example, Europe plays different form Korea, Pakistan plays different from NA. Being in-person with everyone at international events really helps.”
Meanwhile, Joey Fury attributed much of his growth as a player to travelling a lot, even before he was signed with organizations that could fund his travel expenses. Though working a full-time job while competing was hard, his time and effort have truly paid off in making him a player that has not only stood the test of time, but has continually improved and topped his own best performances.
“Traveling is really huge for developing as a player, it’s the only way that you’re going to encounter, like, the full range of playstyles and the full range of skill that exists out there. There are just certain regions and players that you can’t reach via internet. Like, you’re not going to be able to play high level Tekken with somebody thousands and thousands of miles away. So getting that experience was really crucial.” Joey explained.
“I traveled like crazy in 2017, and 2018, and I attribute those years to getting a lot of growth. And just the experience of being able to manage the travel fatigue and the crowds, the stress – there are just certain skills that you will not be able to build just staying online.”
With both players being able to focus on Tekken full-time and travel to events thanks to being signed with FaZe Clan, they’re set up to improve at a rapid pace in a way that simply wouldn’t be possible without partnering with an esports organization.
FaZe didn’t just sign these players because they thought they could win in the short-term; FaZe signed them because they think that, with the ability to travel to more events and train harder than ever before, both of them have the potential to take over the Tekken world.
Looking toward EVO 2023
EVO 2022/Li HoangEVO 2023 is on the horizon, and both players are hyped to show what they’re capable of at what is arguably the year’s biggest fighting game tournament. With Tekken 7’s life cycle winding down, this may be the last chance for either of these players to take home an EVO win before 8 becomes the standard title players compete in.
As such, both players had matchups they’d like to play out in the tournament. And, despite EVO 2023 having over 1,500 players competing in Tekken 7 alone, these two are hoping to win it all. Although, by the sound of it, neither of them is looking for an easy path to the top; they want to take down the best players they can on the way there.
“I’d love to get a run-back with Book after our encounter at Combo Breaker,” Joey said. “I’ve never gotten to fight Atif Butt from Pakistan, he’s been absolutely terrorizing people. Maybe it’s a ‘careful what you wish for’ kind of thing, saying I’d like to fight him? But I would definitely like a shot against the current world champ.”
Meanwhile, HK Jr. was out for revenge. He’s been beaten by a few Tekken greats in the past, and he’s looking to set the record straight at EVO 2023.
“Last time, I lost to Knee. I want to beat him this time around. Knee has been kind of my Tekken idol, and I want to get the next victory over him. I also want to beat Arslan Ash. He beat me last time, and I’d like to beat him this time as well.”
With both players setting their expectations for themselves sky high to round out Tekken 7 and looking toward Tekken 8 with determination in their eyes, these newly-signed FaZe members will no doubt make their mark on competitive Tekken.