Tekken Director Katsuhiro Harada Will Be Leaving Bandai Namco At The End Of The Year

Famed Tekken boss, Katsuhiro Harada, announced on his social media platform that at the end of 2025, he will be ending his tenure with Bandai Namco and the TEKKEN Project Team. The sunglasses-wearing, outspoken producer left a lengthy message, and finished it up with a Soundcloud post, TEKKEN: A 30 Year Journey, of a mix music Harada mixed himself. The mixtape is an hour in length, and is probably the most Harada way to go out.

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.

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.

Harada got his start in Bandai (specifically with Tekken) providing the voices for Yoshimitsu, and the father/son duo of Marshall and Forest Law. From Tekken 3 and throughout, he served as director for the series. His credentials also include a supervising role for PlayStation All-stars Battle Royale, Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth, and both Project X-Zone games. He also oversaw what may be the last Soul Calibur entry in Soul Calibur VI. Known for his very forward personality and sense of humor, Harada developed a close relationship not only fans of Tekken, but the fighting game community in general, as along with the business aspect of the medium, but their influence with the player base. As the head of the head of the eSports fighting game division of Bandai Namco by 2019, he always aimed to keep his finger on the pulse.

In mid-October, Harada's good personal friend, fellow game director and Dead or Alive producer Tomonobu Itagaki passed away. He attended his memorial service on November 27th to deliver eulogies. While it's possible that in a year that saw the loss of a very good friend playing a factor, three decades in the business and shaping one of today's most popular fighting game franchises is a proper bookend for the career of Katsuhiro Harada's run with Namco Bandai. It will be fascinating to see where his journey goes from here.