Tekken (Series) | Harada Retiring

[Moonface]

I probably would get the figurine of him. I do have a Tekken 3 version of him, but him and many of my other Tekken figurines are damaged and really wished I kept them at good quality.

Knowing how well you take care of things I'm really curious how those figures got damaged. o.o

Also, coming to this thread just to share this gif I came across of a move of Hwoarang's I have never seen before and it's so brutal and well animated for being in a PS1 game.



Makes me wish the Tekken games had something like the WWE games where you can just see every single move animation in an easy way.

[Mr EliteL]

Because I played with them as I was a kid, and I dropped them and knocked them a good few times, more of the latter really. The were more for posing not to actually make hit each other, my True Ogre one is the worst really because I lost the wings and damaged at least one of his horns. Jin has scrapes, Yoshimitsu has scrapes and broken swords, King has a broken tail.

I have known of that move but can't remember actually seeing it in Tekken 3 gameplay, but he does do the throw move in his T3 ending on one of the soldiers who were after Jin.

[Moonface]

Ah, I see. If it's any consolation to you I do have a King Funko figure I got for you years ago at this point that will get to you maybe within this decade.

I feel like seeing that move in newer games won't hit as hard because part of what makes it so impressive to me is the fact it's on a PS1 and the lower visual fidelity makes it feel more brutal as a move because of having to fill in the small gaps of where the models don't perfectly align together.

[Mr EliteL]

Ah, thanks. It'll be my first Funko as I hadn't really intended to collect any but if I did I'd at least limit it to a low number. I've watched my sister get a load, then a couple years later get rid of them through selling and charity shops. I have seen the King funko pop via image and it's one of the better ones anyway. Also you do know what this means, right? You opened the door for me to search for a certain duo (GinRan), and I just found out they do have a Funko Pop of each. 

[Moonface]

Katsuhiro Harada is leaving Bandai Namco at the end of 2025
Katsuhiro Harada, the project lead of Tekken for its almost 30 year history, has announced he is leaving Bandai Namco at the end of 2025:

I’d like to share that I’ll be leaving Bandai Namco at the end of 2025. With the TEKKEN series reaching its 30th anniversary—an important milestone for a project I’ve devoted much of my life to—I felt this was the most fitting moment to bring one chapter to a close.

My roots lie in the days when I supported small local tournaments in Japanese arcades and in small halls and community centers overseas. I still remember carrying arcade cabinets by myself, encouraging people to “Please try TEKKEN,” and directly facing the players right in front of me.

The conversations and atmosphere we shared in those places became the core of who I am as a developer and game creator.

Even as the times changed, those experiences have remained at the center of my identity. And even after the tournament scene grew much larger, many of you continued to treat me like an old friend—challenging me at venues, inviting me out for drinks at bars.

Those memories are also deeply precious to me. In recent years, I experienced the 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. Those accumulated events made me reflect on the “time I have left as a creator.”

During that period, I sought advice from Ken Kutaragi—whom I respect as though he were another father—and received invaluable encouragement and guidance.His words quietly supported me in making this decision.

Over the past four to five years, I’ve gradually handed over all of my responsibilities, as well as the stories and worldbuilding I oversaw, to the team, bringing me to the present day. Looking back, I was fortunate to work on an extraordinary variety of projects—VR titles (such as Summer Lesson), Pokkén Tournament, the SoulCalibur series, and many others, both inside and outside the company.

Each project was full of new discoveries and learning, and every one of them became an irreplaceable experience for me. To everyone who has supported me, to communities around the world, and to all the colleagues who have walked alongside me for so many years, I offer my deepest gratitude.

I’ll share more about my next steps at a later date. Thank you very much for everything.

【Postscript】

Although I will be leaving the company at the end of 2025, Bandai Namco has asked me to appear at the TWT Finals at the end of January 2026, so I expect to attend as a guest.

For 30 years I kept saying, “I’ll do it someday,” and never once performed as a DJ at a tournament event. So instead, I will be releasing—for the first and last time—a 60-minute TEKKEN DJ-style nonstop mix (DJ mix), personally edited by myself, together with this announcement. Listening to it brings back many memories.

Thank you again, sincerely, for all these years.

‘TEKKEN: A 30-Year Journey – Harada’s Final Mix’ by Katsuhiro Harada 1 is on #SoundCloud https://on.soundcloud.com/pEYofA4yXOwyC7lj0O

December 8, 2025 - The Final Day of TEKKEN’s 30th Anniversary - Katsuhiro Harada

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This feels a little surreal to me that future Tekken games won't have Harada attached to them anymore. It's obvious reading it that he was going to retire some day, but it's still just hard to imagine him not being part of Tekken. I hope he enjoys whatever he chooses to do moving forward, and I feel like Tekken 9 will be under extra pressure because if it does badly the lack of Harada will be blamed, and if it doesn't have the issues recent Tekken entries have had then Harada will be seen as the cause of them.

[Mr EliteL]

A sad time, and I respect Harada for all he has done for Tekken. The series was pretty much dead to Namco after the failure of Tag 2, and Harade was the one who brought it back, and T7 was indeed a success. T8...seems to be doing alright although I've not really looked into it, even with controversial monetisation that's been added, though it could suddenly go south in future updates.

Anyway back to Harada, he before thought he was going to be there for T9 as he said he had one more game in him, but alas he's sought advice, has family and apparently has health issues too which all accounted to this retirement, but I'm fine with his choice. It's cool he'll be still attending the TWT Finals in January, I would love to watch, the players and fans might give a big tribute and farewell to him.

I still haven't played T8 for ages, but got no idea now how T9 if it still happens will go. It may turn into complete greed, or a reboot could happen, or a time skip, or remakes, who knows. I won't be interested anymore, quite likely. Many other fans may end up feeling the same and then boop, Tekken ends for good.

[Moonface]

Anyway back to Harada, he before thought he was going to be there for T9 as he said he had one more game in him, but alas he's sought advice, has family and apparently has health issues too which all accounted to this retirement, but I'm fine with his choice. It's cool he'll be still attending the TWT Finals in January, I would love to watch, the players and fans might give a big tribute and farewell to him.

I wonder if he wrote out anything for T9 after he made this decision or if he just opted to take any ideas he may have had for that game with him and let the rest of the team take over entirely? I see he was a Director for T8 but I'm curious if he had any involvement in the story at all; if not then it might not really make much difference to T9's story.

As for the gameplay, no matter whether Harada was retiring before T9 or not the big thing that game should do is figure out a form of Early Access. Harada himself said that recent Tekken's suffered from the lack of an arcade release that allows the game to be tweaked before it gets a home release, and balance patches like what T8 has received post-launch are far too risky to do. Either do a proper Early Access that makes it clear the game is still being balanced and tweaked so it can't be judged negatively as being a janky full release, and/or do what games like Dead by Daylight do where balance changes are rolled out into a test environment that players can opt into and give feedback to so that issues can be ironed out before pushing it live to everybody. Heck, adopt what DbD does where all DLC is playable in the test environment and it lets players who don't own a DLC check it out and maybe it'll encourage them to actually buy it, and it would be a good idea anyway because if any changes affect a DLC character it would be best to not restrict their use in a test environment to only DLC owners and limit the testing/feedback for them.

[Mr EliteL]

A longer test period would be great to have, before the main release and for balancing during. It's quite silly to have multiple quick patches for very unintended interactions, or to wait months for an overall balance to fix something. I think the CNT was just 4 days, think there was a second one but those weren't enough to not just test the server but everything else in a VS mode setting, which will be the core life of a fighting game. Can't remember if anything was notably found in those few days.