{"id":46058,"date":"2025-03-25T14:09:09","date_gmt":"2025-03-25T05:09:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=46058"},"modified":"2025-03-25T14:09:12","modified_gmt":"2025-03-25T05:09:12","slug":"tekken-producer-katsuhiro-harada-opens-up-about-the-severe-side-effects-of-stress-he-experienced-while-developing-tekken-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/tekken-producer-katsuhiro-harada-opens-up-about-the-severe-side-effects-of-stress-he-experienced-while-developing-tekken-4\/","title":{"rendered":"Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada opens up about the severe side effects of stress he experienced while developing Tekken 4"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Tekken director and producer Katsuhiro Harada recently revealed some of his experiences developing Tekken 4. While the game is more widely accepted nowadays, Harada vividly remembers how suffocating Tekken 4\u2019s negative feedback was, <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/tekken-harada-opposes-normalizing-toxic-behavior-in-online-gaming-whats-average-is-not-for-you-to-decide\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">both from critics<\/a> and within Namco.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Well, I\u2019m aware of that kind of praise. But back then, I was absolutely bombarded with criticism \u2014 I didn\u2019t have a single ally. Not one. That\u2019s a well-known story inside the company. <br>I was under so much stress at the time that I developed a mysterious condition where all the\u2026 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Z3qrI10ctw\">https:\/\/t.co\/Z3qrI10ctw<\/a><\/p>&mdash; Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Harada_TEKKEN\/status\/1904208862754038011?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">March 24, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>His decision to shift Tekken\u2019s traditional juggling mechanics to a more realistic fighting system that includes baiting attacks and uneven level geometry left Harada feeling constantly stressed whilst working on Tekken 4. He says that nobody on the development team was on his side, as they feared that they were meddling with a well-established formula.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Harada reveals that the stress caused him to lose all the hair on the right side of his body. This includes the hair on his head, arms, eyebrows, and eyelashes. The stress and shock got so bad that he temporarily left Namco a year before development on Tekken 5 began.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1200\" height=\"675\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250325-46058-001.jpg\" alt=\"Tekken 4\" class=\"wp-image-46063\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250325-46058-001.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250325-46058-001-380x214.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250325-46058-001-768x432.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite the initial negativity, Harada was surprised that Tekken 4 sold well and would go on to become a favorite title for many players. Nowadays, he says he looks back on the game as a reminder and lesson to himself.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reports of high stress levels in game development aren\u2019tuncommon. Many are familiar with Masahiro Sakurai\u2019s health issues when developing Super Smash Bros. games, and <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/20231128-23410\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Hideo Kojima developed an ulcer<\/a> when working on his third game, <a href=\"https:\/\/snatcher\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\"><\/a>Snatcher. Indie developers, such as <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/how-dungeon-antiqua-was-wrongly-flagged-virus-blocked-on-steam\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">those who made Dungeon Antiqua<\/a>, also experience stress when it comes to promoting their games and making sure they work as intended. A lot of work goes into making a video game, and sometimes it comes at a cost to the creators\u2019 health.&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> \u201cI was under so much stress at the time that I developed a mysterious condition\u201d says Harada about Tekken 4&#8217;s development.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":46062,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-46058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada opens up about the severe side effects of stress he experienced while developing Tekken 4 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u201cI was under so much stress at the time that I developed a mysterious condition\u201d says Harada about Tekken 4&#039;s development.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/tekken-producer-katsuhiro-harada-opens-up-about-the-severe-side-effects-of-stress-he-experienced-while-developing-tekken-4\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada opens up about the severe side effects of stress he experienced while developing Tekken 4 - 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