Harada Explains Why He Left Bandai Namco for SNK

Katsuhiro Harada, the veteran producer behind the Tekken franchise, has opened up about his decision to leave Bandai Namco after 31 years and take the helm of VS Studio, a new development house operating as an SNK subsidiary. Speaking to VGC and reported by Gamekult, Harada pointed to a simple but striking reason for the career change: at SNK, the bosses actually play games.

A Company Built Around Games

Harada was careful not to name names or assign blame, but his comments painted a clear picture of frustration with how large Japanese entertainment conglomerates approach game development. According to Gamekult, he noted that many Japanese game companies have historically operated across multiple sectors, including theme parks and other entertainment businesses, and that as those outside interests grow, leadership attention drifts away from games themselves.

He went further, stating that senior executives at major Japanese studios frequently skip playing their own in-development titles entirely, attending financial meetings without ever providing feedback on prototypes or finished builds. “I can guarantee you that no top executive in the Japanese game industry plays their own games,” he said, adding that he was not framing this as a moral judgment but rather highlighting what makes SNK stand out as an exception.

SNK’s Leadership Passes the Controller

What Harada found at SNK was different. He described the organization, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, as one where people at every level, including ownership, have a genuine understanding of and enthusiasm for video games. He specifically praised the fact that SNK’s backers “passionately love video games,” a quality he considers essential for building the right environment to make ambitious projects. His broader ambition, as reported by Gamekult, is to use that alignment to help bring back what he called the golden age of Japanese games.

VS Studio’s First Project Takes Shape

Harada confirmed, without giving specifics, that VS Studio’s debut title will fall in line with fan expectations given his background and the studio’s name. “The game we are developing will be a kind of surprise, but rest assured, it is not something outside of what you would expect,” he said. A fighting game of some kind appears to be the safe read, though Harada declined to elaborate before any official announcement.

When asked how he would measure success five years from now, his answer was blunt: VS Studio simply needs to still be operating. It is a grounded benchmark from a developer who has spent three decades at one of gaming’s biggest publishers and is now, by his own description, starting from scratch.

Sources: Gamekult