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NEWS: Tekken 7, Tekken 8 Director Kohei Ikeda Leaves Bandai Namco




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AiddonValentine



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 2944
PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2026 1:57 pm Reply with quote
My guess: headhunted by Harada which means he's also now taking Saudi blood money. I don't know what happened with Tekken 8's production but it's clearly broken a dam at the company
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Greed1914



Joined: 28 Oct 2007
Posts: 5345
PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2026 2:07 pm Reply with quote
AiddonValentine wrote:
My guess: headhunted by Harada which means he's also now taking Saudi blood money. I don't know what happened with Tekken 8's production but it's clearly broken a dam at the company


We'll have to wait and see as far as where he goes, but I think you're right that something with Tekken 8 was a problem internally.
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EmeraldSaucer



Joined: 31 Jan 2025
Posts: 932
PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2026 2:52 pm Reply with quote
Tekken 8 has been a mess, and it's hard to look at its design choices (from hyper-emphasizing offense to make it more "exciting" for spectators to version 2 fundamentally misunderstanding why fighting game characters have built-in weaknesses) and not see the cynical hand of Bamco reaching out under the premise that "dumbed down = more people playing". No surprise that either project heads eventually had enough, or they weren't able to reach the numbers Bamco wanted because the approach was always doomed
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AiddonValentine



Joined: 07 Aug 2006
Posts: 2944
PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2026 3:16 pm Reply with quote
Greed1914 wrote:

We'll have to wait and see as far as where he goes, but I think you're right that something with Tekken 8 was a problem internally.


Which definitely makes me wonder if tensions had been building for some time and this was just the final straw. Whoever owns the fault is up in the air Bamco is probable, but considering how many times creatives have turned out to be nightmares (CoughYujiNakaKenLevineBrendanMcNamaraCough), I wouldn't be surprised if Harada shares some blame. Regardless, it's very akward that Tekken is at such a crossroads with new entries in Virtua Fighter and Dead or Alive being on the horizon.
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BadNewsBlues



Joined: 21 Sep 2014
Posts: 7189
PostPosted: Tue Jun 02, 2026 6:28 pm Reply with quote
If 8 was a mess what the hell was 7 with that bullshit story and arcade mode?

AiddonValentine wrote:
(CoughYujiNakaKenLevineBrendanMcNamaraCough),


Missing a Denis Dyack therein.

AiddonValentine wrote:
Regardless, it's very akward that Tekken is at such a crossroads with new entries in Virtua Fighter and Dead or Alive being on the horizon.


One is a franchise that’s arguably more niche than Dead Or Alive the other is of Dead Or Alive a game that at this point might as well be a gacha game for whales.

But to let some tell it different it’s present problem stem for toning down the fanservice
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maximilianjenus



Joined: 29 Apr 2013
Posts: 3110
PostPosted: Wed Jun 03, 2026 7:12 am Reply with quote
Greed1914 wrote:
AiddonValentine wrote:
My guess: headhunted by Harada which means he's also now taking Saudi blood money. I don't know what happened with Tekken 8's production but it's clearly broken a dam at the company


We'll have to wait and see as far as where he goes, but I think you're right that something with Tekken 8 was a problem internally.


It might be simpler. Inflation has been bad these past years, if namco did not keep up with apropiate raises it's normal that people leave so they don't lose money.
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Tamer Sakura



Joined: 16 Jul 2025
Posts: 41
PostPosted: Thu Jun 04, 2026 10:25 am Reply with quote
All the Tekken alumni leaving Bamco to go to SNK would be pretty funny, but it could just be a coincidence...
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