Tekken series creator Katsuhiro Harada left Bandai Namco, and thus the franchise, at the end of 2025, but the legendary game developer is returning quickly to the industry with VS Studio, a brand-new game development studio created with investment from SNK Corporation.
Established on May 1, SNK will support its launch and plans to make it a consolidated subsidiary. "The new studio and SNK will collaborate on game software development to further strengthen their development capabilities," the announcement press release says.
"We are pleased to announce the launch of our new game development studio, VS Studio. VS Studio's philosophy is 'Beyond tradition, crafted to perfection,'" Katsuhiro Harada commented. "The "VS" in VS Studio holds various meanings. It represents our roots in "Video game Soft (VS Development Division)"; the spirit of "Versus"; challenging tradition, and many other meanings symbolizing innovation and challenge, such as "Visionary Standard"; "Volition Shift," and "Vanguard Spirit," the Tekken series creator added, heavily suggesting that the studio will work on fighting games.
"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," said SNK's Yasuyuki Oda. "We’ve long discussed the hypothetical scenario of working together, and now that dream has become a reality. To be honest, nothing has been decided yet, but I have no doubt that things will become even more exciting than ever before. We look forward to your continued support for SNK and VS Studio."
As VS Studio has only just been established, it will be a while before we get a glimpse of its first project. However, given Harada-san's expertise, it will be very interesting to see if we get a proper rival to the Tekken series, whose latest entry, Tekken 8, is leaving long-time fans disappointed with some questionable decisions.
Just don't go flooding his social media profiles with requests quite yet. Even at a new studio, the rule remains: don't ask him for anything.
About the author: Francesco De Meo has been covering video games and technology since 2012, starting his career at small outlets like Gamersyndrome and GeekSnack. After joining Wccftech gaming section in 2015, he quickly expanded his video gaming coverage with in-depth reporting, interviews with iconic industry figures such as Grasshopper Manufacture founder and No More Heroes creator Goichi "Suda51" Suda, Resident Evil series creator Shinji Mikami, Team NINJA's president and Nioh series director Fumihiko Yasuda, and Silent Hill creator Keiichiro Toyama, reviews and on-the-ground coverage of major industry events such as Gamescom and E3. When he's not reporting or reviewing, Francesco can be found playing the genres he loves most, spending time with his six cats, reading, writing music, playing guitar and drumming for his progressive rock band.
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