Tekken 8 director Kohei Ikeda leaves Bandai Namco

Kohei Ikeda, the game director behind Tekken 7 and Tekken 8, has announced he is leaving Bandai Namco. Ikeda joined the company in 2007 and, in a heartfelt message, recounted his early days as a fighting game fanatic and expressed pride and gratitude for having the chance to work on a franchise that shaped his life.

Katsuhiro Harada, who left Bandai Namco last year, has since joined SNK to found VSStudioSNK, and Ikeda’s departure fuels speculation about whether the two will reunite. The pair have extensive experience working together, including sharing the director role on Tekken 7, and bringing key team members to new ventures is not unheard of.

The Tekken franchise shows no sign of slowing: the announcement of Yujiro Hanma as Tekken 8’s season 3 guest fighter drew thousands of fans and helped boost the game’s sales. Fighting games remain active and there is a lot of anticipation for Harada’s new project — and for whether Ikeda will be part of it.

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