Katsuhiro Harada has been involved with the Tekken series since the beginning for over 30 years. Needless to say, it feels like Tekken is about to go in a completely different direction considering Harada’s recent departure from Bandai Namco.
This all seemingly came out of nowhere considering that Harada previously said that he’d retire after Tekken 9, but ended up leaving Bandai Namco during the post-development cycle of Tekken 8. Regardless, it would seem that Harada and Bandai Namco are still on fairly good terms.
Bandai Namco has asked Harada to attend the Tekken World Tour 2026 Finals at the end of January 2026 as a guest. This is something that he apparently intends to do.
Since Harada has left the company, Bandai Namco has reaffirmed their commitment to supporting Tekken 8 without him. Important duties are being passed down to Director Kohei Ikeda and Producer Michael Murray.
Harada has injected much of his personality into Tekken throughout his time with Bandai Namco. It’s interesting to note that he only started donning his iconic sunglasses at the request of Capcom for the sake of advertising Street Fighter X Tekken.
Just recently, a fan expressed disappointment on how the Tekken announcements will feel like they’re missing something without Harada himself presenting them. This has seemingly prompted a response from Harada.
“It’ll be okay. People are built to move forward by forgetting,” responded Harada.
“Do you remember exactly what you were doing on this day a few years ago? Most people don’t. But life kept going the whole time… and the hype, the surprise, all of it gets carried on to the next person. That’s just how it works.”
It’ll be okay. People are built to move forward by forgetting.
Do you remember exactly what you were doing on this day a few years ago? Most people don’t.
But life kept going the whole time…and the hype, the surprise, all of it gets carried on to the next person. That’s just… https://t.co/9ylgT4eAMf
— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) January 18, 2026