Tekken boss publicizes retirement after 30 years in probably the most Harada means conceivable: a prolonged social media publish and hour-long mixtape

Katsuhrio Harada—one of many driving forces behind Tekken and the sequence head honcho for the final 20 years—is hanging up his preventing gloves on the finish of this 12 months.

He introduced his retirement in a prolonged X publish, saying that 2025 can be his closing 12 months at Bandai Namco and because the undertaking chief on Tekken. “With the Tekken sequence reaching its thirtieth anniversary—an essential milestone for a undertaking I’ve devoted a lot of my life to—I felt this was probably the most becoming second to carry one chapter to a detailed,” he wrote.

An excellent chunk of the publish is devoted to his interactions with the group over the past three many years. “My roots lie within the days once I supported small native tournaments in Japanese arcades and in small halls and group centres abroad,” he mentioned. “I nonetheless keep in mind carrying arcade cupboards on my own, encouraging folks to ‘Please strive Tekken,’ and immediately dealing with the gamers proper in entrance of me.”

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Harada mentioned that these experiences “grew to become the core of who I’m as a developer and recreation creator,” one thing which continued whilst each Tekken and the FGC at massive grew greater. “Lots of you continued to deal with me like an outdated pal—difficult me at venues, inviting me out for drinks at bars,” he wrote. “These reminiscences are deeply treasured to me.”

As for his retirement, he wrote that quite a few elements are at play—the lack of “a number of shut private pals” and witnessing “the retirement or passing of many senior colleagues whom I deeply respect.”

I can solely assume one of many folks Harada is speaking about is Useless or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki, who handed away in October on the age of 58. On the time, Harada posted to X, saying: “To assume that he is gone at simply 58 years outdated… Sure, everybody dies finally… that is inevitable. However you… is not it a bit too quickly?”

Apparently, Harada even went to former PlayStation boss Ken Kutaragi for recommendation, writing that “His phrases quietly supported me in making this choice.”

His publish continues to say that he is been within the enterprise of slowly handing off tasks for half a decade now, concluding: “Every undertaking was full of recent discoveries and studying, and each considered one of them grew to become an irreplaceable expertise for me. To everybody who has supported me, to communities around the globe, and to all of the colleagues who’ve walked alongside me for therefore a few years, I provide my deepest gratitude. I will share extra about my subsequent steps at a later date. Thanks very a lot for every little thing.”

It’s type of wild to see Harada lastly departing. It is tough to think about a Tekken with out him, and even if Tekken 8 has been in fairly tough form within the final 12 months, it’s going to nonetheless be a rattling disgrace to see him go. His shut involvement with the group—together with at all times having an ear near the bottom in Western territories—made him stand out amongst different Japanese preventing recreation builders.

Except for a really prolonged Harada-style social media publish, he is additionally gone forward and dropped a combination on Soundcloud known as “TEKKEN: A 30-12 months Journey – Harada’s Ultimate Combine,” an hour-long musical homage to his profession. I’ve been listening to it whereas penning this, and yeah, it is fairly rattling good.

There is no phrase on who might be taking on in his absence simply but, and Harada is not completely vanishing immediately. The Tekken X account posted its personal assertion, saying that Harada will nonetheless be making an look on the Tekken World Tour 2025 finals taking place in Sweden on the finish of January.

The publish additionally has a fast paragraph in regards to the sequence’ future. “To our followers, relaxation assured that we’re totally dedicated to future growth and content material plans for Tekken 8,” it reads. “We’ll proceed to take group suggestions on the sport and its content material to coronary heart to make sure that we uphold the imaginative and prescient and spirit constructed by Harada-san, dedicating our utmost efforts to make sure the legacy of the Tekken sequence continues as a preventing recreation franchise beloved worldwide.”