Katsuhiro Harada Explains How Tomonobu Itagaki Influenced Him To Leave Bandai Namco

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Tekken Boss Katsuhiro Harada Explains How Tomonobu Itagaki Influenced Him To Leave Bandai Namco

Covering the video games industry since 2017, with experience in news, articles, lists, and reviews (and I blame The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask for that).

If you are a fan of RPGs and want a third-person version: Tayná Garcia is a Brazilian journalist (but you can call her Tay) who ended up working with video games after finishing Zelda: Majora's Mask when she was a kid. With more than eight years of experience in the segment, she has been an assistant editor at Jovem Nerd and is currently a contributor at DualShockers and a writer for gaming magazines for Editora Europa. Oh, and she may like Hideo Kojima a bit too much.

Katsuhiro Harada is, without a doubt, one of the most iconic and important figures not just within Bandai Namco Entertainment, but across the entire fighting game scene. After all, we are talking about the man who first brought the legendary Tekken franchise to life and guided it for decades.

That’s why the news delivered by Harada himself on Monday marks the true end of an era: the legendary developer announced he will be departing the company at the end of 2025, bringing to a close a massive professional chapter spanning more than 30 years.

Why Harada Is Leaving Bandai Namco

In an emotional post on X (formerly Twitter), Harada announced that he will be departing Bandai Namco this month, shortly after Tekken reached its 30th anniversary.

“With the TEKKEN series reaching its 30th anniversary – an important milestone for a project I’ve devoted much of my life to – I felt this was the most fitting moment to bring one chapter to a close”, he explains.

[...] the legendary developer announced he will be departing the company at the end of 2025 [...]

As for the reason for the unexpected departure, Harada goes on in a reflective tone, speaking fondly of his early days at Bandai Namco and remembering when he had to personally carry the arcade cabinets and rely heavily on word-of-mouth marketing to get players to test the very first Tekken.

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Harada revealed that over time, he suffered the loss of many close friends in my personal and professional life, including the recent death of his famous arch-rival, Tomonobu Itagaki (Dead or Alive, Ninja Gaiden), which made him reflect on “the time he had left as a creator”, a contemplation that ultimately led to his final decision.

To navigate this personal transition, Harada even sought external advice from Ken Kutaragi, the legendary PlayStation executive, whose words provided enough encouragement and guidance to support his decision to leave. You can check his full announcement right below:

As for the future of Tekken, it is still unknown who will take over Harada's shoes after his departure.

Katsuhiro Harada, who joined Namco around 1994, ended his announcement by deeply thanking all the players who accompanied him on this journey. To lighten the mood, he shared an hour-long mix of techno tunes inspired by Tekken's soundtracks, edited by himself.

Harada also teased his future plans, so it seems that he won't be retiring entirely: "I’ll share more about my next steps at a later date".