Highlights
- Harada plans to retire after Tekken 9, making it his final game in the series.
- Tekken 8 has been a massive hit, selling over two million copies since its launch in January.
- The future of the Tekken franchise is uncertain, with Harada discussing possible release timelines for Tekken 9.
Tekken 8‘s director and producer, Katsuhiro Harada, has stated that Tekken 9 would likely be the last game he would ever develop. Tekken 8 has been a huge success already, with the game selling at least two million copies since its late-January launch and is one of the most critically acclaimed entries in the long-running fighting game franchise. While the game is still fresh, some might wonder if Tekken 8 will get a follow-up.
Tekken 8‘s director is one of the most open and communicative fighting game developers, having a consistent presence on social media sites like Twitter and YouTube, the latter hosting his web show, Harada’s Bar. This show usually has him discussing various subjects in a more casual setting. The latest episode of Harada’s Bar features Harada himself, Tekken 8‘s trailer announcer, Lenne Hardt, and associate Tekken producer Michael Murray, with one of the topics of discussion being the future of the Tekken franchise.
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In the episode “Harada, Lenne, and Michael” of Harada’s Bar, Murray asks if Hardt has any questions for the two of them. Hardt asks when Harada will work on a possible Tekken 9, along with when he thinks the game will be out. Harada stated that Tekken 9 would likely be the last game he’d work on before retiring from the gaming industry. “Tekken 9 will be our last work before retirement,” Harada said, referring to himself and Michael Murray. He then notes that the timeline of the next game following Tekken 8 would be hard to quantify. Harada then shared his original plans regarding Tekken 8 and Tekken 7. According to Harada, the developers planned on announcing the eighth game two years after 7‘s launch, and releasing 8 five years after, but the development took much longer than anticipated.
Harada’s Future and Tekken 9
Hardt then notes that Tekken 8 is really popular right now, so it’d be best to wait, with Harada commenting that if they wait too long, they’d get old, expressing it’d be better to release Tekken 9 sooner rather than later. Harada notes that the next generation of consoles following the PS5 and the Xbox Series X/S would be a great time to release the game. “I think next would be the release of PlayStation 6 or the new series of Xbox. When that happens, I want to release [Tekken 9] immediately. That’s one thing I’d love to do. But we don’t know how many years that might be,” said Harada.
Tekken 9
will be our last work before retirement.
Harada and Murray then ruminate on the future of the gaming industry, noting that when they release Tekken 9, gamers might not be using consoles or PCs as gaming devices, with Hardt chiming in that new technology might be developed by then as well. Harada ends the segment by stating that he’d also love to release Tekken 9 on a Nintendo platform as well.
Tekken 8
Bandai Namco’s Tekken 8 is the franchise’s debut entry on the PS5 and Xbox Series X/S, and the fighting game is built in Unreal Engine 5. The story revolves around Kazuya Mishima and Jin Kazama’s relationship.
- Released
- January 26, 2024
- Metascore
- 90
