Three Tekken Leads Gone in One Year as Director Exits

Producer Yohei Shimbori left in August 2025. Executive game director Katsuhiro Harada followed in December after more than 31 years at the company. Now Kohei Ikeda, game director of both Tekken 7 and Tekken 8, has announced his own departure from Bandai Namco after two decades. Three senior leads gone from the same franchise in under a year is not a coincidence; it's an exodus.

Ikeda confirmed the news in a statement posted on X on June 1, reflecting on a career that began with Soulcalibur IV and eventually put him at the helm of one of fighting games' biggest series. "I am deeply proud that I had the opportunity to create games alongside such incredible people who poured their hearts into this work," he wrote. He said he has passed the baton to the remaining team and plans to continue working in game development, though he gave no specifics on where he's headed next.

The timing here is hard to ignore. Harada recently announced the formation of VS Studio under SNK, and VGC reports that Yuichi Yonemori, director of Tekken Tag Tournament 1 and 2, has already joined him there. Fans are openly speculating that Ikeda could be next in line. If that happens, SNK would be sitting on a concentration of Tekken talent that Bandai Namco itself no longer has.

All of this is unfolding while Tekken 8 is still in active development. Bandai Namco recently revealed Yujiro Hanma from Baki as the next DLC character for the Season 3 Pass, which runs into early 2027. But the game's third season patch drew heavy criticism from players frustrated that the game's aggressive meta hadn't shifted despite developer promises to bring things "back to basics." Emergency patches followed, but the damage to community trust was already done. I've watched fighting game communities weather rough patches before, but losing three leads while your active playerbase is already unhappy is a different kind of problem.

Bandai Namco has said nothing about Tekken's future beyond Season 3. Whether Tekken 9 happens, and who would lead it, are questions the publisher will have to answer eventually. Right now, the people most qualified to build it are walking out the door.