Tekken 8's game director has left Bandai Namco after 20 years

First Katsuhiro Harada departs the company and now another major player from the Tekken department is following suit.
Text: Ben Lyons
Published 2026-06-01

Is Bandai Namco facing a bit of an exodus from its Tekken team? While that might seem like a strange statement, the Japanese video game company recently parted ways with long-time Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada, who went on to form his own game studio with SNK, and now this has been followed by the exit of Tekken 8's game director too, an individual with two decades of experience with the Bandai Namco.

In a statement on social media, Kohei Ikeda has mentioned that after 20 years with Bandai Namco, he is officially leaving the company and getting ready to take on "new challenges as a game developer." There is no word as to what these could be, but could it potentially be a reunion with Harada at VS Studio SNK?

Ikeda talks about his time at Bandai Namco in the statement where he mentions his first project at the company was Soul Calibur IV, but his recent duties saw him operate at the helm of both Tekken 7 and 8 as the game director. These are experiences that Ikeda regards as "cherished" and "deeply proud", as you can read in his full statement below.

Where do you expect Ikeda to appear next?

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