Tekken

[DestructionBomb]

Katsuhiro Harada says that he might've failed as a producer because of what he focuses on instead of cutting costs

Interesting interview.

Ehhh... I also heard from somewhere that cutting costs can also be a detriment in video games as well. There definitely has to be a balance to that sort of thing.

He's right that development costs are getting higher and expensive with gaming. The next game could potentially be overly ambitious as you'll probably want more budget to realize vision. The more expensive things get, the harder it is to get it fully realized because it just gets costly over time. Being a video game dev or director/producer in a big ass company is starting to sound more miserable by the year lol.

 

[Derock]

Reaction on Miary Zo:

Eh. Her moveset is more fitting in 2D than 3D because most of her stuff rely on her "staff", which she holds on to like a stripper. That also includes her Ogre powers, which she use a lemur's tail in almost the same animation from Mai's Ryuuenbu. And she will annoy players, I mean seriously, they gave her a movement where she hops in the air with the staff disappearing and reappearing while making monkey sounds(?). And it go nonstop until she has the opportunity to attack.

Also, hardly any SC reference as her staff is more of a prop.

 

[DestructionBomb]

Katsuhiro Harada is closing a chapter and is leaving Bandai Namco by the end of 2025:

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1997952347709034747

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1997954347347620178

 

[Kasumi-Phase-X]

Katsuhiro Harada-san was the guy that kept the Tekken franchise afloat since Tekken 3, provided us content like Story Mode, Customization (which gotten a massive downgrade since TTT2, with Tekken 8 Fight Pass & DLC being closet to the best Customization experience since Tekken 6), and gave us quality female characters from their modeling (especially beginning with Tekken Revolution abandoning the realistic look from TTT2 with Tekken 8 still having good looking females) along with their personalities from Asuka, Lili, Alisa, Christie, Miharu, Eliza, Lucky Chloe, Kunimitsu II, Reina, & Miary Zo which these characters will be more memorable than anything Capcom made as of recent since SF6 Newcomers & NRS since MKX (with the worst characters being the Special Forces Kids).

 

[deathofaninja]

I felt SFVI blew me away from a visual standpoint. Sexiest fighter in a while. T8 was a disaster but Harada had a great run with his franchise.

Personally, I knew the end was coming. I could sense it.

 

[DestructionBomb]

So Harada recently mentioned on his replies that Tekken is still going to continue without him and that the series will not end with him leaving Namco (which makes sense given that Murray is the producer now and Nakatsu is still the game director).

Even if the series continues, it's unknown if the future Tekken games will continue on a good path or not. With the road map planned, a Tekken 9 is still very believable of existing considering that's also the Tekken numbered title that Harada would stop at if he remained in the building.

I think the Tekken community is still good into getting new games, this is a very different issue than VF or DOA.

 

[deathofaninja]

So Harada recently mentioned on his replies that Tekken is still going to continue without him and that the series will not end with him leaving Namco (which makes sense given that Murray is the producer now and Nakatsu is still the game director).

Even if the series continues, it's unknown if the future Tekken games will continue on a good path or not. With the road map planned, a Tekken 9 is still very believable of existing considering that's also the Tekken numbered title that Harada would stop at if he remained in the building.

I think the Tekken community is still good into getting new games, this is a very different issue than VF or DOA.

On paper, sure it's easier because it has a selling track record, but once he's gone what he says no longer really matters. What's not different is that all 3D fighting games are in a MEH place. I see a lot of people that hate on T8 just as much as DOA6 or SC6. Especially when you look at the female models. Such a downgrade compared to a 30-year-old DOA game.

 

[DestructionBomb]

On paper, sure it's easier because it has a selling track record, but once he's gone what he says no longer really matters. What's not different is that all 3D fighting games are in a MEH place. I see a lot of people that hate on T8 just as much as DOA6 or SC6. Especially when you look at the female models. Such a downgrade compared to a 30-year-old DOA game.

I mean DOA continued without Itagaki, and Tekken is a bit of a no-brainer when they still have a producer and battle director. Despite Tekken 8's bad rep, it still sold well and was not a catastrophic failure for the series as a whole. The closest game for a near failure was TTT2 where it really could of been their last game.

I'd say the only downside is the quality of the series will most likely be different, or pretty much the future of Tekken will most certainly be different overall. Personally I don't think Harada was lying that Tekken can continue without him considering DOA continued without Itagaki, and he was the least involved in the T8 project. Heck, Harada wants them to make another without him. Tekken is rather lucky to say the least because he could of just pulled the plug and end it in general years ago lol.

Another thing to add is that Harada isn't leaving the video game industry, he's only leaving Bandai Namco.