Summary
Tekkenfans recently grew alarmed at news spreading that Katsuhiro Harada could be calling it quits at Bandai Namco, and the game producer has offered clarification. This follows a change to Harada’s LinkedIn page that many believed indicated he would be leaving theTekkenteam.
Harada has been a part of the team that’sbroughtTekkento lifesince its inception, though not always in the same role. Initially, he provided voices to some of theTekkencharacters in its first release, and later went on to direct the game starting withTekken 3. While his role with the series sometimes changes, many fans have expressed worry over the idea of him leaving the company and the series' development team entirely.
Recently, Harada made a change to his LinkedIn profile that set off alarms for fans. Genki initially reported that Harada had added an “#opentowork” hashtag to his profile, which was thought to mean that he was looking for work outside of Bandai. However, Harada has now clarified the matter, explaining that he’s not going anywhere, and just wants to expand his horizons by talking to more people.Harada assuredTekkenfansthat they don’t need to worry about it, and Genki has since withdrawn its original post.
Tekken 8 Development Continues With Harada Onboard
While fans were initially worried, it wouldn’t make much sense for Harada to leave the team at this point in time.Tekken 8is still receiving fresh content. The game just released patch 1.11 a few days prior to this worrying development, and also addedFinal Fantasy 16’s Clive to theTekken 8fighter rosterrecently.Tekken 8is already teasing and laying the groundwork for season 2, as well, which will arrive in spring 2025. While the title’s future updates have likely been laid out already, it would be surprising to see him leave while aTekkengame is still getting content.
With that said, Harada might still leave the series in the relative near future. Harada previously talked about his future with the series, noting that he might only have one moreTekkenin him, due to his increasing age and “how that plays out in Japan and development.” It’s worth noting that there was nearly a decade between the release ofTekken 7andTekken 8, so if the development cycle of the next entry is similar, players could still be seeingHarada in a lead role onTekken 9sometime in the 2030s. In any case, players don’t need to fret over him leaving at this point.
Tekken 8
WHERE TO PLAY
Tekken 8 brings the fight to the latest generation of consoles, powered by Unreal Engine 5. Feel the power of every hit in Tekken 8, the latest entry in the legendary fighting game franchise from Bandai Namco. Utilising the power and realism of Unreal Engine 5, Tekken 8 pushes the envelope for fighting games by taking full advantage of the power of the latest generation of consoles. Ground-breaking new features, breathtakingly detailed character models and dramatic environments make this one of the most visually stunning and immersive titles in the genre yet. Tekken 8 picks up after the gruesome battle that ended in Heihachi Mishima’s defeat in Tekken 7, focusing on a new rivalry, pitting father against son as Jin Kazama stands in defiance against Kazuya Mishima in a city-shattering face-to-face showdown.
