It’s been a few months since the announcement of Capcom Cup 12 being pay-per-view and unsurprisingly, this revelation was met with much controversy.
Fans weren’t the only ones surprised, either, with even the developers of Street Fighter 6 saying they had no idea and were surprised. Recently, Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada mentioned the situation in passing and after his comments were misconstrued, he has clarified where Tekken 8’s esports initiative stands in regards to pay-per-view events.
Going on his X account, Harada voiced his frustrations with having been misinterpreted with the original article at Video Games Chronicle’s headline suggesting that Harada had been “quite interested” in Capcom’s decision to charge for the Street Fighter tournament.
“I never said a single word about wanting to turn it into paid content […] you would have to interpret it extremely negatively to think that I was trying to make streaming paid” — Katsuhiro Harada
Directly from Harada’s X account, he says “I never said a single word about wanting to turn it into paid content” and clarified, “I only said, ‘I wonder or interest how that could be achieved?’ in reference to Capcom Cup 12’s pay-per-view status.
Since Katsuhiro Harada had gotten comments suggesting that he wanted to make Tekken World Tour Finals pay-per-view as well, he clarified that this was most certainly not the case and felt it was a malicious reading of his words.
“In the first place, I am not even positive about monetization. The context and interpretation may have been created by the article, but judging from the flow of the conversation, you would have to interpret it extremely negatively to think that I was trying to make streaming paid”, Harada remarked.
You can see the full X post embedded below.
The interview that this article is based on is probably the one at this link, right?https://t.co/oCbgCzbHCg
I never said a single word about wanting to turn it into paid content (I only said, “I wonder or interest how that could be achieved?”). In the first place, I am not even… https://t.co/doSNRJErnZ
— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) November 27, 2025
After some responses on X, Harada said that he wasn’t even sure which article originated this interpretation of his words, but he reiterated that he never wanted to make streaming a paid service or has even considered it at all.
You can see this clarification below.
I’m not sure whether that article is the original source, but as I posted earlier, in any case, I have never said that I wanted to make streaming a paid service, nor have I ever even considered doing so.
I did not make it paid afterward, and the fact that I never did so until the… https://t.co/K0XijQt5F8
— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) November 27, 2025
Katsuhiro Harada wasn’t the only one to openly comment on the subject.
His colleague at Bandai Namco and Chief Producer on Tekken 8 Naoya Yasuda also chimed in to back up what Harada was saying.
“The key goal of the TWT is to make the TEKKEN community sustainable, not to commercialize it. That’s why the Finals would never become a PPV — we’ve never proposed, discussed, or even considered such an idea,” read Yasuda’s X post.
He also stated that he’s been present for every interview Harada has done in regards to Tekken 8 and never seen him say anything like it.
“You simply can’t claim something that has never been contemplated. It’s genuinely disappointing to see a notion so far removed from our vision become a topic of discussion”, he added.
You can see Yasuda’s X post in full embedded below as well.
The key goal of the TWT is to make the TEKKEN community sustainable, not to commercialize it. That’s why the Finals would never become a PPV — we’ve never proposed, discussed, or even considered such an idea. I’ve been present for all of Harada-san’s interviews, and I have never… https://t.co/oEYvFif0kV
— Yasuda Esports / 安田イースポーツ (@y_esports) November 27, 2025
The Tekken developers are clearly very steadfast in having no interest in Tekken 8’s tournaments becoming pay-per-view and hopefully that will remain the case.
Capcom themselves made a follow-up announcement saying they had heard the feedback regarding Capcom Cup 12’s status as a pay-per-view event, though there did not seem to be any intention to reverse it for the current Capcom Cup.
Given that ticket sales were set to go live very shortly after the announcement, it’s hardly a surprise that Capcom Cup 12 would remain pay-per-view as planned, but given the massive backlash coupled with the developers’ own comments it remains to be seen if the situation changes for Capcom Cup 13 in 2027.
As for the Tekken World Tour Finals, they are set to happen between January 30th and February 1st of next year in my own home country of Sweden, more specifically Malmö, and they will be free to view. Based on these posts, if the current development team keep having their say, they should remain so for upcoming years as well.