Tekken director and industry icon Katsuhiro Harada has announced that he will leave Bandai Namco later this year.
In a message on social media, Harada says that while his experiences working on Tekken have "remained at the center of [his] identity", he's been thinking about "the time [he has] left as a creator".
These reflections were prompted by the loss of "several close friends" in Harada's personal life, as well as "the retirement or passing" of several colleagues whom Harada says he "deeply respect[s]".
Harada goes on to say that he's spent the last "four to five years" handing off responsibilities for Tekken to the franchise's development team, including the "stories and worldbuilding [he] oversaw", so his departure shouldn't come as too much of a shock for Tekken.
As for what's next for Harada, he says he'll "share more about [his] next steps at a later date". Could he be on his way to starting up his own studio, perhaps with NetEase funding? Recent developments may make that possibility a little more complicated than it might have been a year or two ago.
You haven't quite heard the last of Harada with regards to Tekken, though. He says that he...
