{"id":54691,"date":"2025-12-08T18:31:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-08T09:31:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=54691"},"modified":"2025-12-08T18:35:23","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T09:35:23","slug":"tekken-lead-katsuhiro-harada-to-leave-bandai-namco-at-the-end-of-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/tekken-lead-katsuhiro-harada-to-leave-bandai-namco-at-the-end-of-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Tekken lead Katsuhiro Harada to leave Bandai Namco at the end of 2025\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Longtime <strong>Tekken<\/strong> series producer Katsuhiro Harada has announced that he will be leaving Bandai Namco at the end of the year. The timing of his departure coincides with the Tekken franchise\u2019s 30<sup>th<\/sup> anniversary.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Harada says&nbsp;the decision came as a result of him reflecting on the time he has left as a creator. \u201cIn recent years, I experienced the loss of several close friends in my personal life, and in my professional life I witnessed the retirement or passing of many senior colleagues whom I deeply respect,\u201d he wrote on X. These accumulated events are what led him to reconsider his remaining years in the industry. After seeking guidance from respected industry peer Ken Kutaragi, Harada ultimately made the decision to leave. &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\">I\u2019d like to share that I\u2019ll be leaving Bandai Namco at the end of 2025.<br>With the TEKKEN series reaching its 30th anniversary\u2014an important milestone for a project I\u2019ve devoted much of my life to\u2014I felt this was the most fitting moment to bring one chapter to a close.<br><br>My roots lie\u2026<\/p>&mdash; Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Harada_TEKKEN\/status\/1997952347709034747?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">December 8, 2025<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>The developer says he\u2019s been gradually handing over his responsibilities to other team members in the past four to five years. He expressed gratitude for the various projects he\u2019s been involved in during his 31-year-long career at Bandai Namco and thanked his fans and colleagues for the years of support.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While Harada hasn\u2019t yet revealed what he\u2019ll be doing next, he says we can expect updates at a later date. Additionally, despite his departure from Bandai Namco, he will still be appearing at the Tekken 8 TWT Finals at the end of January 2026, but as a guest. Together with the announcement of his departure, Harada has released a 60-minute Tekken DJ mix on <a href=\"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/katsuhiro-harada-1\/tekken-a-30-year-journey-haradas-final-mix\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Soundcloud<\/a>, which is something he\u2019s apparently always wanted to do.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Related articles: <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-dead-or-alive-director-is-leaving-bandai-namco-studios-and-tekken-8-team\/\">Former Dead or Alive director Yohei Shimbori<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/former-dead-or-alive-director-is-leaving-bandai-namco-studios-and-tekken-8-team\/\">is leaving Bandai Namco Studios and Tekken 8 team&nbsp;<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Longtime Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada has announced that he will be leaving Bandai Namco at the end of the year.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":54694,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-54691","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 v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Tekken lead Katsuhiro Harada to leave Bandai Namco at the end of 2025\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Longtime Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada has announced that he will be leaving Bandai Namco at the end of the year.\" \/>\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-lead-katsuhiro-harada-to-leave-bandai-namco-at-the-end-of-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Tekken lead Katsuhiro Harada to leave Bandai Namco at the end of 2025\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Longtime Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada has announced that he will be leaving Bandai Namco at the end of the year.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/tekken-lead-katsuhiro-harada-to-leave-bandai-namco-at-the-end-of-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-08T09:31:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-12-08T09:35:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/20251205-54691-header.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1105\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"754\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Tekken lead Katsuhiro Harada to leave Bandai Namco at the end of 2025\u00a0 - 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