Harada interview: Co-op Tekken Force isn’t off the table at Bandai Namco

Tekken boss Katsuhiro Harada seems keen for co-op Tekken Force, and maybe even a JoJo's Bizarre Adventure character in Tekken.

Tekken 8 opening cinematic / Bandai Namco

“Obviously the majority of my time went into Tekken 7 during [the PS4 and Xbox One] generation of consoles, but I did help out with projects such as Dragon Ball FighterZ,” Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada tells GLHF of his busy schedule while speaking from the Red Bull Golden Letters Tekken tournament. “But then also some lesser-known titles, like working with the team on My Hero [One’s Justice], and also the upcoming title Bleach: Rebirth of Souls.”

Katsuhiro Harada is best known for his role in the Tekken series. He’s been with the franchise since the first entry and holds director credits for multiple games. But he’s not just the fighting game guy, as Harada-san is actively involved in a number of Bandai Namco projects, and has credits on games you might not expect, like Tales of Arise, Dark Souls 3, Pokkén Tournament, and more.

Characters from the Tekken series aren’t necessarily strangers to stepping out of the fighting game mold, either. Nina Williams infamously took on the role of protagonist in the single-player PS2 exclusive, Death by Degrees. It wasn’t much of a hit with critics of the era, but I was hoping that there was still a chance of something like it in the future.

Tekken 8's opening has Tekken Force taking central stage. / Bandai Namco

“I would definitely like to do something like that,” Oh yes. “But to do it properly, for a company of our size, it would probably cost a sizeable amount for development fees, so it would be quite difficult to do.” Oh no.

Making an entirely original game is a costly and risky venture, but incorporating new ideas into the main game of Tekken is entirely possible. Tekken’s branched out in the past, and minigames like Tekken Ball and Tekken Bowling have become synonymous with weekend multiplayer sessions in the ‘90s.

“I would like to do other ideas as well, in addition to Tekken Bowling and Tekken Ball,” Harada-san explains. “But it depends on what fans are asking for, and it seems like we’ve almost gone full circle back to where games like Double Dragon would be popular if you can play co-op.

Tekken 8 introduced a variety of new original characters. / Bandai Namco

“So, maybe something in the vein of Tekken Force, but you’re fighting together against different enemies, using weapons, and maybe some boss characters – something like that might be popular.” It’s not a confirmation of an expanded Tekken Force coming in the future of Tekken 8, but it’s enough to start dreaming.

Tekken 7 was a landmark entry for the franchise and is currently the best-selling Tekken game to date. Part of the reason why is that Tekken 7 embraced crossover characters like no game before it. Not only was Street Fighter’s Akuma playable, but he was a central part of Tekken 7’s storyline. “Akuma’s story was related to Kazumi Mishima, and that was portrayed in Tekken 7 alone,” Harada-san says. “Since [Akuma] is another company’s intellectual property, we can’t just put him in the story. We don’t see him playing a big role in Tekken 8, or anything.

“It is quite intensive – we worked with Capcom for maybe four years before releasing the character, doing various approvals and such. It’s quite different from just throwing in another Tekken character. That’s difficult to do frequently.”

Reina was Heihachi's replacement, until Heihachi came back. / Bandai Namco

It’s tough, but that doesn’t mean Tekken 8 is going to go without crossover characters entirely. “Guest characters are good for bringing in people that aren’t necessarily Tekken fans, and they broaden the audience,” Harada-san says. “That said, it depends on what people want from us. Often we would include characters from fighting games, for example, but we did that quite a bit for Tekken 7.”

Harada-san then points out my t-shirt, and says “for example, your t-shirt is Dragon Ball, right? Maybe if we were to do something with Dragon Ball that would be pretty fun and entertaining, but it’s not something that we can decide merely on our own,” he continues. “The licensor has to want to do so, and the timing has to match up.”

I tell Harada-san that my personal dream is to have a character from JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure feature in Tekken, which piques his interest. “That wouldn’t be a difficult stretch… do you have a preference for who you’d like from JoJo?” I pick Joseph Joestar, naturally, and Harada-san seems to immediately understand why.

There will be more fighting games in the future of Bandai Namco. / Bandai Namco

Tekken 8 is currently thriving, but it won’t be the only fighting game from Bandai Namco this generation. “Fighting games seem to be a bigger priority at [Bandai Namco] now, so you might see some interesting things coming out – other than Tekken – in the next five years.

“It’s interesting if you think about it — not only did we develop Tekken, but we produced Dragon Ball FighterZ, and even Super Smash Bros. was outsourced to Bandai Namco studios to develop,” Harada-san tells me. “We have a handle on many fighting games from Japan.”

Harada-san refused to drop me a breaking exclusive but it’s always insightful chatting with a developer at the top of their game. Tekken 7 broke records for the series, and Tekken 8 is off to a strong start, while Harada-san advises on a number of current and future Bandai Namco projects. Despite some troubling news of project cancellations at Bandai Namco, the future is still reasonably bright for Japanese fighting games.