Competitive Tekken 8 match causes a frenzy after a rogue controller 'robbed' pro player of a game-winning combo

A competitive Tekken 8 match ended in controversy this weekend after a rogue controller connection caused a potentially game-winning combo to be dropped, leading to a match reset which ended in a loss for the would-be winner.

DreamHack Dallas saw nearly 500 Tekken players descend on the Kay Bailey Hutchinson Convention Center this weekend, vying for a $50,000 prize pot and a spot at the Esports World Cup in Riyadh this summer, which itself is boasting a huge $1 million prize pool. Two of those players were Korean pro Kim «JDCR» Hyun-jin and Filipino pro Alexandra «AK» Laverez, who were duking it out on the winners side of the top 64. Both players had won one game apiece and were both one round away from winning the third and final game to continue their run on the winners side. 

JDCR had smacked AK with a helluva combo on a 90% health lead, carrying his opponent to the wall ready for the final killing blow. But right before he could do it, the PlayStation 5 controller connect screen appeared, killing his inputs and causing him to drop the combo. Commentators Tasty Steve and Kai Kennedy can be heard exclaiming «Oh no!» as it happens, as JDCR takes off his headset and sinks his face into his hands. 

The Twitch chat descends into absolute chaos as tournament organisers attempt to discern whether one of the players had their controllers disconnected—which results in an automatic loss for the faulty pad user—or whether someone else who was previously connected to the setup had attempted to turn their controller on. It was deemed to be the latter, leading to a reset of the final round to play from the beginning, which Kai Kennedy described as «quite the windfall for AK,» adding: «This is a heartbreaker, you hate to see situations like this pop up but it does happen. Live competition is live competition.»

As the match gets reset, Twitch chat can be seen saying things like «JDCR won that fair and square,» «JDCR ALREADY WON,» «JDCR got screwed» and «Jdcr won. This is