For those of you who are even tangentally interested in fighting games, the name Katsuhiro Harada, or just Harada for short, is a name that’s synonymous with Bandai Namco’s fighting games division. Being one of the main names and certainly the main face behind the legendary Tekken franchise, as well as contributing much to Bandai Namco’s other fighting game IP Soul Calibur, Harada seemed to be inseparable from Bandai Namco but recent changes to his LinkedIn suggests he may be searching for greener pastures.
Of course, Harada himself has come out to deny these rumors, saying that it’s just him expanding his horizons and not actually searching for new work.
Though some people may looking between the lines for that “expanding my horizons in the future” passage meaning that eventually, one day, he may actually be leave Bandai Namco. Though, for all we know that day may come sooner rather than later. As we know, in regards to the Tekken franchise, Harada is still the face of the series, though behind the scenes he’s split the load with senior designer Michael Murray, and maybe in Tekken 9 Murray will take the reigns entirely, or hand the series off to someone new.
Or, perhaps, Harada and Murray will retire as they planned all along after Tekken 9, and these LinkedIn changes really are just Harada expanding his horizons for the time when that happens.
There’s nothing concrete, and the best hint we have are the words from the man himself, who says he isn’t going anywhere for the time being. Because Tekken 8 has drawn many many opinions about the state of the game and the franchise as a whole, it’s entirely possible that this small change has been blown out of proportion by those desperate for a change in the series.