Tekken Director Announces Surprise Departure from Bandai Namco

Seemingly coming out of nowhere, current Tekken 8 director and longtime leader of the franchise Katsuhiro Harada announced his departure from Bandai Namco at the end of 2025. It’s a surprising move for Harada, who has always been closely associated with the Tekken franchise he has helped work on over the past 30 years. He also commonly acts as the public face for games like Tekken 8 by announcing new content at various events alongside fellow producer, Michael Murray.

The news comes at a surprising time, as not only is it the 30th anniversary of the franchise, but Tekken 8 has been a big success for Bandai Namco, even with the Season 2 sturggles the studio had to overcome. Many fans are expecting news of a new season of content, and even Harada himself has previously admitted that a Tekken 9 would likely be his last game before retiring. As it stands now, plans have seemingly changed as the Tekken franchise will be charting new territory without Harada.

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Katsuhiro Harada Is Leaving Bandai Namco

In a lengthy post on social media, Katsuhiro Harada admitted that, as Tekken reached its 30th anniversary, he felt it was a fitting moment to finally “bring one chapter to a close.” As he spoke about his roots in the gaming industry, including interacting with people directly at local tournaments and arcades, he admitted that recent events have shifted his perspective a bit on how much time he has left as a creator. It’s clear that the recent passing of Tomonobu Itagaki had a profound impact on Harada, who put out a heartfelt statement following the news and delivered the eulogy at his memorial service. To wrap up his post, for the “first and last time” and as a nostalgic way to celebrate the Tekken series, Harada released a 60-minute DJ mix of the franchise, edited by himself.

Internally, the news isn’t likely as shocking as Harada confirmed that he has gradually been handing off many of his responsibilities over the past 5 years. Still, Bandai Namco, as well as the current Tekken 8 team, followed up Harada’s post with one of their own to thank him for everything he’s done and confirmed that even though he’ll be leaving at the end of Tekken‘s 30th anniversary celebration, he’ll be making an appearance early in 2026 during the Tekken World Tour 2025 Global Finals on January 30 and February 1, 2026 in Malmo, Sweden.

In addition, the company also addressed the future of the Tekken series, attempting to ease fan concerns by reconfirming the studio’s commitment to the franchise, future development, and content plans for Tekken 8. In addition to player feedback, the studio plans to honor the legacy of the franchise, while ensuring that it upholds the vision and spirit build by Harada.

For many, Harada is best remembered for being highly active on social media, commonly engaging with fans about a variety of topics, from Tekken lore, update announcements, DLC requests, to sometimes having to put people in their place. Interestingly enough, Harada dealt with rumors of leaving Bandai Namco earlier in 2025, denying them at the time, though looking back, it now seems like the rumors were at least somewhat justified.

While he may be best known for his work on the Tekken franchise, Harada has also held various roles assisting with numerous other projects at Bandai Namco. His farewell post revealed a handful of them, as Harada noted that each one offered him a sense of discovery and learning, providing another “irreplaceable experience” for him. While he worked on other fighting game franchises like Pokken Tournament and SoulCalibur, he was also involved with Tales of Arise, Dark Souls 3, Code Vein, and the unique Pac-Man spinoff known as Shadow Labyrinth.