Tekken's Creator Founds New Studio With Old Rival SNK

"I am extremely proud to welcome Mr. Katsuhiro Harada, who has been a long-time friend and a worthy rival to us, into our group," SNK's Yasuyuki Oda said in today's announcement. "We've long discussed the hypothetical scenario of working together, and now that dream has become a reality."

If you've followed fighting games for any length of time, you know how wild that sentence is. Tekken and The King of Fighters spent the better part of two decades as direct competitors, scrapping for arcade floor space and console loyalty. Now the man who built Tekken into a 30-year franchise is setting up shop inside the house that KOF built. VS Studio was officially established on May 1, 2026, headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo, with Harada serving as CEO. SNK has invested in the studio and brought it under its corporate umbrella as a consolidated subsidiary.

Harada confirmed the news on X, writing that VS Studio is "built on the knowledge and passion we have cultivated over many years on the front lines of game development." The studio's motto is "Beyond tradition, crafted to perfection," and the "VS" name carries multiple meanings according to Harada: Video game Soft, the spirit of "Versus" challenging tradition, and other phrases like "Visionary Standard" and "Vanguard Spirit." It's a lot of acronyms, but the message is clear enough. This is a competitive gaming studio.

He wants to make a fighting game

In an interview with Den-fami Nico Gamer, Harada was more direct than the press release allowed. He confirmed he wants to create a new fighting game and said he plans to be far more hands-on with development than he has been in the past decade. "I think I'll be more creative and development-oriented than I have been for the past 10 years or so, returning to my roots in my involvement," he told the outlet.

That's the detail that excites me most. Harada's later years at Bandai Namco saw him in a general manager role, often more visible as a public-facing figure and social media firefighter than as a creative lead. If VS Studio puts him back in the trenches of game design, the FGC should be paying attention. He also didn't rule out working on SNK's own franchises. Speaking to 4Gamer, he said there are "certainly things I'd like to do" with SNK's IP, but stressed that nothing has been decided and that modern development timelines of four to five years make it impossible to commit to anything casually.

He's not alone at VS Studio, either. Yuichi Yonemori, director of Tekken Tag Tournament 1 and 2, has joined as chief creative officer. That's a serious hire. Tekken Tag 2 remains one of the most mechanically ambitious fighting games ever shipped, and Yonemori's presence suggests the studio isn't just banking on Harada's name.

The SNK partnership does come with baggage. The company has been majority-owned by Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman through state investment and charity funds in recent years, a fact that drew criticism when the acquisition was first reported. That financial backing is what gives a historically cash-strapped publisher like SNK the ability to fund new ventures like this one, but the ethical questions around Saudi state ownership haven't gone away. Harada announced his departure from Bandai Namco on December 31, 2025, writing that "Harada_TEKKEN is completely dead." Five months later, he's clearly very much alive, just wearing different colours. SNK's last major fighting game release, Fatal Fury: City of the Wolves, reportedly disappointed commercially, and the company's CEO stepped down shortly after. Bringing in the most recognizable name in fighting game development feels like a direct response to that stumble.