What's next Harada: evolving the fighting game genre and Esports

It's that time of the year again where E3 takes place, and although there isn't anything new to present for the Tekken or SoulCalibur side of things, figureheads from Bandai Namco were in attendance once again to do an E3 coliseum panel with Geoff Keighley. The panel for this year is focused on the strengths of Fighting games in the Esports business, but similar to the interview from last year, Geoff is slightly awkward since he doesn't have a FG background and throws out his ideas on where they could go or evolve into that might not really resonate with those inside the community. Video archive of the 'Strength of Fighting Games in Esports' session is now available for people to catch up over on YouTube. I also have a written transcript of the panel added down below so feel free to read that if you want to skip most of the 'soooo, uhhh, anooo' air time.

• E3 Coliseum Host: Geoff Keighley
• Tekken Franchise Director: Katsuhiro Harada
• Tekken Franchise Producer: Michael Murray
• TEKKEN 7 & SOULCALIBUR VI Brand Manager: Mark Religioso
• Senior Esports Specialist BNEA: Cesar Solorio

The Strength of Fighting Games in Esports ≫ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkMEc-cIGdg

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Harada Elaborates on his Hesitation to Release Tekken X Street Fighter

It's becoming 'harder to justify' the release of Tekken X Street Fighter, Harada tells VGC. This might not be something that fans who have been waiting since the title's initial announcement back in 2010 wants to hear but the hesitancy to get the game produced can be attributed to the current market for Fighting Games. "Capcom released Street Fighter V and then we released Tekken 7. Those titles are some of the best fighting games ever and they became very successful. [...] So then I started to wonder, do I really want to attempt to compete with these huge titles? It could end up splitting the community. That was a serious consideration from the marketing perspective." Harada still reaffirms his own desire in working on Tekken X Street Fighter mentioning he still has the passion and excitement in carrying out the project should it ever get the green light. Since we're at the tail-end of this current console hardware generation, perhaps waiting this out to release on the next generation of video game console which is expected next year is the current best course of action for the game. You can read further comments from Harada about Tekken X Street Fighter over at VGC's report:

Tekken X Street Fighter becoming ‘harder to justify’, says Harada ≫ https://www.videogameschronicle.com/news/tekken-x-street-fighter-becoming-harder-to-justify-says-harada/

Tekken X Street Fighter is Currently 'Pending', Development is at 30%

The Tekken x Street Fighter project is still alive, somewhere in the depths of Bandai Namco Entertainment's studio offices. While the current priorities for the Tekken team are focusing on the ongoing support for Tekken 7, the vision for the 3D cross-over between the two franchises is still in a comatose state; the game has not been seen at all since it's announcement back at San Diego Comic-Con of 2010. We've gotten piecemeal bits of info about it before but the latest for TxSF comes from Harada during the live stream for Kuro Kuro's year-end Tekken drinking party. In his words, Tekken x Street Fighter is still 'Pending', which is pretty much another way of saying that the title is 'on hold' in terms of priority. The development of Tekken x Street Fighter currently sits at the 30% mark so there is still a long way to go. While reading and answering the chat, Harada also briefly spoke about some other topics. For those asking about a third Season Pass for Tekken 7, he answered that it could happen, depending on the sales of the previous Season Passes. On the potential of a Switch release of Tekken 7, that is dependent on the demand from fans so let them know if you're interested in seeing that happen. If you want to check out the full sit-down and chat session with Harada from the party, you can find the archive over on Kuro Kuro's Twitch channel.

Kuro Kuro's End of the Year Tekken Party Archive ≫ https://www.twitch.tv/videos/352727969

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TekkenGamer's Interview with Katsuhiro Harada

Tekken 7's chief producer Katsuhiro Harada breaks the long silence in a new interview conducted by the TekkenGamer crew. With the initial Tekken 7 content roadmap having been completed a long awhile ago, the comments made in this interview together with the recent 1 year anniversary content drop for the game at least reaffirms that the title hasn't been abandoned for people pining for more. Other notable mentions made in the interview are about Noctis' inclusion in the game, on Kazuma Kiryu's inclusion, a small status update for the dormant Tekken X Street Fighter title and more. This interview makes for some interesting insight behind the title so be sure to check out the piece in full over on TekkenGamer:

TekkenGamer's Harada Interview ≫ http://tekkengamer.com/2018/05/23/harada-san-says-its-safe-to-expect-more-for-tekken-7/

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Round-Up: Tekken 7 Interviews At Jump Festa 2016

Jump Festa 2016 was a mainly Anime/Manga event that went down in Japan this past weekend but Bandai Namco Entertainment was present to announce a whole slew of games. Gaming press at the event got the chance to get updates on the Tekken series by interviewing the lead game designer and Harada's personal translator Michael Murray. There's piecemeal bits of information on Tekken 7 & Tekken X Street Fighter revealed accross numerous sites so this post will be rounding it all up.

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