'Tekken' Architect Katsuhiro Harada Exits Bandai Namco After 31 Years
He bows out on the series’ 30th anniversary with a farewell DJ mix and a future still under wraps.
Summary
- Katsuhiro Harada, the long-time face of Tekken, announced he will leave Bandai Namco at the end of 2025, concluding a 31-year run
- His exit is timed with Tekken’s 30th anniversary, as he is stepping away from the team he quietly handed control of over the last five years
- Harada is still set to appear as a guest at the Tekken World Tour 2025 Global Finals in early 2026 before revealing his next move
Katsuhiro Harada, the face of Tekken for three decades, has announced he will leave Bandai Namco at the end of 2025, closing a 31-year run that turned the series into 3D fighting royalty.
He timed his exit with Tekken’s 30th anniversary and described it as “the most fitting moment to bring one chapter to a close,” after years of reflecting on the “time I have left as a creator” amid the loss of close friends and senior colleagues. Harada’s farewell statement traces his roots back to hauling arcade cabs into tiny venues and asking people to “Please try TEKKEN,” positioning grassroots FGC culture as the core of his creative identity.
Over the past four to five years he has quietly handed off Tekken’s story, worldbuilding and leadership to the current team, while also steering projects like SoulCalibur, Pokkén Tournament, Ace Combat collaborations and even dark horse titles like Shadow Labyrinth.
Bandai Namco and the Tekken Project have issued their own message reassuring fans they are “fully committed to future development and content plans for Tekken 8” and will keep honoring the vision and spirit Harada built.
In a final bit of Harada flair, he dropped a 60-minute SoundCloud set titled “TEKKEN: A 30-Year Journey – Harada’s Final Mix”, finally making good on decades of joking that he would someday DJ a tournament.
Harada will still appear as a guest at the Tekken World Tour 2025 Global Finals in Malmö in early 2026, but says he will reveal his next move later, leaving the FGC buzzing about whether the next chapter is retirement, a new studio or something completely unexpected.
