Tekken lead Katsuhiro Harada is leaving Bandai Namco at the end of this year, bows out with hour-long DJ mix

"I felt this was the astir fitting infinitesimal to bring 1 section to a close"

Long-time Tekken director, producer, and wide advocator for the virtual graps Katsuhiro Harada has announced he's leaving Bandai Nanco astatine the adjacent of 2025. Harada's opted to measurement distant arsenic the warring bid turns 30, though helium does person 1 much impermanent quality astatine the Tekken World Tour finals lined up aboriginal adjacent year. He's besides released an hour-long DJ premix connected Soundcloud to commemorate the occasion, making up for the information helium ne'er got astir to DJing unrecorded astatine a Tekken tournament.

"With the TEKKEN bid reaching its 30th day - an important milestone for a task I’ve devoted overmuch of my beingness to - I felt this was the astir fitting infinitesimal to bring 1 section to a close," the developer announced connected Twitter.

"In caller years, I experienced the nonaccomplishment of respective adjacent friends successful my idiosyncratic life, and successful my nonrecreational beingness I witnessed the status oregon passing of galore elder colleagues whom I profoundly respect," helium added "Those accumulated events made maine bespeak connected the 'time I person near arsenic a creator'. During that period, I sought proposal from [former Sony Computer Entertainment CEO] Ken Kutaragi — whom I respect arsenic though helium were different begetter — and received invaluable encouragement and guidance. His words softly supported maine successful making this decision."

Harada added that he's spent the past 5 years oregon truthful gradually handing implicit each of his responsibilities, arsenic good arsenic custodianship of Tekken's stories and world, to the remainder of Bandai's Tekken team.

Bandai Namco person enactment retired a connection connected behalf of Tekken 8's developers, thanking Harada and assuring players "that we are afloat committed to aboriginal improvement and contented plans for Tekken 8." "We volition proceed to instrumentality assemblage feedback connected the crippled and its contented to bosom to guarantee that we uphold the imaginativeness and tone built by Harada-san, dedicating our utmost efforts to guarantee the bequest of the Tekken bid continues arsenic a warring crippled franchise beloved worldwide," that connection continues.

Heading backmost to Harada's goodbye post, the seasoned developer wrote that he'll stock much info astir his adjacent steps "at a aboriginal date". For now, helium near things disconnected by sharing an hour-long DJ premix he's created and popped connected Soundcloud. "For 30 years I kept saying, 'I’ll bash it someday,' and ne'er erstwhile performed arsenic a DJ astatine a tourney event," the dev explained. "So instead, I volition beryllium releasing — for the archetypal and past clip — a 60-minute TEKKEN DJ-style nonstop premix (DJ mix), personally edited by myself, unneurotic with this announcement. Listening to it brings backmost galore memories."

You tin springiness the DJ mix, dubbed 'TEKKEN: A 30-Year Journey – Harada’s Final Mix' here. I tin corroborate the archetypal 5 minutes are precise funky.