{"id":66524,"date":"2026-05-13T14:08:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T05:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=66524"},"modified":"2026-05-13T14:08:06","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T05:08:06","slug":"the-vs-in-katsuhiro-haradas-new-vs-studio-doesnt-stand-for-versus-but-the-tekken-veteran-is-keen-on-exploring-competitive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/the-vs-in-katsuhiro-haradas-new-vs-studio-doesnt-stand-for-versus-but-the-tekken-veteran-is-keen-on-exploring-competitive\/","title":{"rendered":"The \u201cVS\u201d in Katsuhiro Harada\u2019s new VS Studio\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0stand for \u201cversus,\u201d but the Tekken veteran is\u00a0keen on \u201cexploring competitive games\u201d\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Following his\u00a0departure from Bandai Namco<\/a>\u00a0at the end of 2025,\u00a0Katsuhiro Harada\u00a0has\u00a0announced the establishment of\u00a0VS Studio SNK<\/strong>\u00a0(hereafter VS Studio), a new independent game development studio\u00a0led by him and\u00a0supported by\u00a0Fatal Fury developer\u00a0SNK.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given\u00a0<\/strong>Harada\u2019s history with the Tekken franchise, you would be forgiven for assuming that the \u201cVS\u201d in his new studio stands for \u201cversus\u201d (in\u00a0reference\u00a0to fighting games). While Harada understands this assumption, the letters\u00a0actually have\u00a0more to do with\u00a0the history of his career as a game developer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a joint media interview attended by AUTOMATON<\/a>, Harada revealed that the letters can be traced to his and longtime Tekken dev and director Yuichi Yonemori\u2019s roots working at Namco\u2019s Video Game Soft Development Department, abbreviated internally as the \u201cVS Development Department.\u201d The now-defunct department was Namco’s software creative division, responsible not just for fighting games like Tekken, but also for other genre-defining titles before the company’s merger with Bandai in 2005. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While Harada and Yonemori named the new studio after their shared history, Harada says that the acronym has many meanings, ranging from cool titles like \u201cVanguard Spirits\u201d to \u201cVisual Studio,\u201d all of which the studio embodies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At VS Studio,\u00a0Harada\u00a0aims to\u00a0get back to directly \u201cmaking things\u201d by becoming more involved with the creative and development side of games\u00a0in parallel\u00a0with\u00a0his work as the studio\u2019s director.\u00a0While he\u00a0wasn\u2019t\u00a0ready to\u00a0spill the beans\u00a0on what VS Studio will be making\u00a0quite yet, he said that\u00a0he\u2019s\u00a0aware of the expectations the market holds for him and\u00a0SNK, and\u00a0is\u00a0eager to explore competitive games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

As for\u00a0VS Studio\u2019s\u00a0development staff, while Harada would like his new independent studio to attract young\u00a0creators, he also believes that\u00a0\u201csenior\u201d\u00a0devs,\u00a0aged 45 or older,\u00a0should be\u00a0more valued as assets in the\u00a0industry. He hopes that the studio will become a melting pot of sorts, where energetic young\u00a0creators\u00a0with\u00a0new ideas\u00a0and experienced veterans can create\u00a0games\u00a0together.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Harada uses the term \u201ccreators\u201d since he doesn\u2019t want to limit aspiring applicants to game devs. When asked what kind of people he would like to attract to VS Studio, he replied by saying that some media representatives would be a good fit, as he has spoken to many in the past who were avid arcade game players.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think people whose passion\u00a0hasn\u2019t\u00a0waned, regardless of age – for example, those with knowledge of various games, who have played a wide range of titles, or who have spoken with many different developers – are\u00a0actually well-suited\u00a0to be developers. I want to bring in as many people as possible who\u00a0possess\u00a0that curiosity and passion for games.\u201d\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Tekken veteran Katsuhiro Harada talks about the meaning behind the name of his new VS Studio and his future plans for the development studio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":67,"featured_media":66526,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[17],"class_list":["post-66524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe \u201cVS\u201d in Katsuhiro Harada\u2019s new VS Studio\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0stand for \u201cversus,\u201d but the Tekken veteran is\u00a0keen on \u201cexploring competitive games\u201d\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Tekken veteran Katsuhiro Harada talks about the meaning behind the name of his new VS Studio and his future plans for the development studio.\" \/>\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\/the-vs-in-katsuhiro-haradas-new-vs-studio-doesnt-stand-for-versus-but-the-tekken-veteran-is-keen-on-exploring-competitive\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The \u201cVS\u201d in Katsuhiro Harada\u2019s new VS Studio\u00a0doesn\u2019t\u00a0stand for \u201cversus,\u201d but the Tekken veteran is\u00a0keen on \u201cexploring competitive games\u201d\u00a0 - 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