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In an interview with VG247 on the past and future of the Tekken series during its 30th anniversary, Tekken 8
executive producer Katsuhiro Harada, via translation from producer Michael Murray, has stated that the pair might have just one more Tekken in them before handing off the reins to someone else.
This comes in response to a question asking Harada what his hopes are for Tekken’s future. You can read the full interview here for his thoughts on other topics including how it feels for Tekken to be the last remaining 3D fighter, and why Tekken has lasted so long while other IP have faltered.
“It’s really hard to tell. Myself and Murray, we might only have one more Tekken, thanks to age and how that plays out in Japan and development, and stuff like that. 20-30 years is a long time, so you might have another team, that’s just the way companies work, right? It’s kind of unique with the Tekken team, even if you take the two of us away, there’s still the director and people who are leaders on the team, we’re all in a similar age range. It’s kind of unique that everyone on the team has been on the team for at least 20 years, in most cases. So, it could turn into quite a different game after we’re gone. It could be more casual, who knows? It could be like Smash Bros!”
Harada, via Murray, continues by expressing his concerns about power balances within Tekken team once he and other senior staff who’ve been around for decades step away.
“I’m quite worried honestly because there are various factors in making a game. So, obviously, there’s the board of the company, and the finance people with their goals and such for the game financially and how it relates to the company. They’re naturally quite strong, as you would imagine. So it’s very important to have a creative side where people know the game well and know what it needs to be”.
“But there has to be a voice strong enough [on the development team] to be on the same kinda floor as those people. So my worry is that if you have a creative side that doesn’t have the same footing as those people running the company… I worry about how that’ll play out”.
However, when I followed up by asking if he was concerned that the power of the creative development team for Tekken would weaken with his departure, he offered a confirmation as well as further elaboration, again via Murray. “Yeah. It’s a difficult balance, realistically, because if the creative side is stronger than the board of the company side – that happens sometimes, right – then the company might not survive. [laughs] So, it is a delicate balance.
If you’ve been a Tekken fan for long, it’ll be hard to imagine a future without Harada, Murray, and many of the senior leads who have acted like bedrock under the growing Tekken franchise. The pair I interviewed are very much the faces and voices of the game, directly communicating with the community on matters both serious and jovial.
But this is not an unfamilar problem, especially with Japanese game development where a few key, star developers have led the charge on various franchises over the years. Many of these legendary names first started off in the early PlayStation era – or even earlier! It’s only natural that over time, newer names and faces would have to pick up the torch. One must only look at Street Fighter 6‘s younger, ambitious talent for a successful example of this, something one hopes happens for all great video game franchises.