Tekken 8 Dev Frustrated with Fan Demands
- Tekken 8 director Katsuhiro Harada is frustrated with fan demands.
- Fans often question the inclusion of characters like Anna Williams.
- Harada views all Tekken characters as his children.
- Including every veteran character would limit new ones.
- Harada is tired of explaining game development realities.
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TEKKEN 8 DIRECTOR IS TIRED OF EXPLAINING GAME DEVELOPMENT TO DEMANDING FANS
By Kenneth Shepard
Published Wednesday 10:47 AM
Jin and Kazuya hold their fists up
Image: Bandai Namco
When you've been online and dealing with thousands of people making demands and assumptions about your work as long as Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada, you're bound to see a lot of the same arguments.
For fighting game developers, the inclusion or exclusion of fan-favorite characters is a frequent topic of discussion, more so with each subsequent game.
When asked about why he hated Anna Williams, a longtime veteran character of the series who has been featured in every mainline Tekken until Tekken 8, it led to a series of tweets in which Harada frankly cooked people for weighing in with suggestions lacking insight into the intricacies of making a fighting game.
FAN QUESTIONS AND HARADA'S RESPONSES
It started with a fan asking Harada why Anna, who has had a rivalry with her sister Nina throughout the Tekken series, is always treated as inferior to her.
They go on to say it feels like pulling teeth to get her in a game despite her perceived popularity compared to other characters across the franchise.
Harada started by saying that he views all of Tekken's characters like his own children and that any belief that he hates any of the fighters is people just seeing something distorted by assumptions.
The developer also pointed out that if every veteran character fans wanted was featured in each Tekken game, there would be no room to introduce new ones.
While some games like Super Smash Bros Ultimate have taken on the gargantuan task of releasing a game with every previous fighter, Harada says having a Tekken game with 50-70 characters from the start is unrealistic in every respect.
BUSINESS PERSPECTIVES AND FAN EXPECTATIONS
Things escalated further when someone else interjected that it would make sense from a business standpoint to stop introducing new fighters with each incremental release to avoid this conundrum.
Harada didn't seem thrilled by that suggestion but also seemed tired of explaining the business realities of making video games. Not for free anyway.
"Do you need me to explain that to you from every perspective now?" Harada asked.
"Then from here on out I'm going to charge you tuition for lectures on what video games are, what game development is, what the game market is, what the game business is, and so on."
"Also, before we talk about your business perspective, please tell me your business track record."
I'd attend that class to be honest.
Harada's willingness to engage with the Tekken community despite the annoying stuff he sometimes has to deal with is commendable.
It has resulted in some fun and heartwarming stories like fans asking for a Waffle House stage and when he helped a player salvage ghost data to remember a lost loved one.
Tekken 8 is doing pretty well for itself though there has been some controversy surrounding its inclusion of a battle pass.
