Tekken Boss To Leave Bandai Namco
Harada Closes A Chapter
It would be fair to say, I think, that Katsuhiro Harada has been the head of the Tekken series, both as a public face and as the director of the franchise. Mr. Harada has been with Tekken since the first game in the series in 1994, and has been director and producer for different games since Tekken 3. There’s not been many people in the videogames industry who can claim such a seminal place as Mr. Harada has, For Tekken, for Namco and for fighting games generally. Things are about to change though, after the news that Katsuhiro Harada is stepping away from Bandai Namco.
It comes along with the 30th anniversary of Tekken; with Mr. Harada mentioning ‘loss of several close friends in my personal life, and in my professional life I witnessed the retirement or passing of many senior colleagues whom I deeply respect.’ And that this led him to consider ‘time I have left as a creator.’
It’s certainly a big change for Namco, but I think it’s fair to say that Mr. Harada has more than earned the right to pursue other interests, whether those lie in a professional or personal capacity; I also hope that we see many more games from Mr. Harada in the future, games that let him stretch his creativity.
Playing videogames, writing about videogames, considering videogames—that about sums it up. Videogames are the one hobby that I’ve kept since I was only little, zapping ducks on the NES or knocking out MR. X. And when I’m not enjoying classics from the bit generation of games or checking out those earliest of polygons, I’m probably playing something from today’s age of modern gaming: if I’m not complaining about it. Something I’m doing at the moment? Chest thumping Donkey Kong Bananza.
