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What could Masahiro Sakurai be doing hanging out with important figureheads of Tekken and Street Fighter in this photo?

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Over on Twitter, Masahiro Sakurai has posted a photo of himself hanging out with Katsuhiro Harada and Akira Nishitani. In his post, Sakurai notes how it’s a shot of the Tekken developer and Street Fighter 2 developer watching as the Super Smash Bros. developer, that’s Sakurai himself, signs an autograph.






From the picture, we can see that Sakurai is signing a picture depicting Kirby. The three seem to be hanging out at some sort of public diner, likely for lunch or dinner.









Katsuhiro Harada would add some context in English as to what was going on. Apparently, Harada’s daughter’s classmate wanted a Kirby autograph from Sakurai.


Though Katsuhiro Harada started off as an advisory consultant and the voice actor for Marshall Law, Yoshimitsu, and Kunimitsu in the first two Tekken entries, he would later become the Director and face of the Tekken series.


As for Akira Nishitani, he’s credited as being one of the main designers for Street Fighter 2 and Final Fight. He ended up leaving Capcom back in 1995 and founded his own company, Arika.


In modern times, Arika served as the developer behind Fighting EX Layer and helped co-develop Tekken 8 alongside Bandai Namco. Needless to say, Nishitani and Harada hanging out together would make sense right now considering their current connections to Bandai Namco and Tekken 8.


Of course, as many of us already know, this isn’t the first time that Masahiro Sakurai has been associated with those involved with Bandai Namco. After all, Bandai Namco, led by Sakurai of Sora Ltd., acted as the developer for Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate with Nintendo as the producer company.


Funnily enough, Sakurai once talked about how he tried not to be so openly visible to the public while working on Super Smash Bros. 4 at Bandai Namco as it would’ve cause speculation and leaks. It was almost as if he was in disguise. However, Harada, hilariously enough, pointed out to him that he was still noticeable and really stood out back then.


At this point, we know that Sakurai is still creating games for the time being as he’s said so himself. Furthermore, we also know that Studio 2 & Studio S of Bandai Namco, the studios behind the development of Super Smash Bros. 4 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, recently filled positions for those experienced in action games played from a side view, which sounds eerily like the Super Smash Bros. series.


On one hand, it might seem odd for Masahiro Sakurai himself to post this photo if he were involved in the development of yet another Super Smash Bros. entry with Bandai Namco for the rumored Switch 2 since it would cause fans to begin speculating. However, Harada telling Sakurai that he “really stood out” and was “noticeable” back during Super Smash Bros. Ultimate’s DLC development might’ve had a certain impact on Sakurai. Perhaps he’s given up on trying to prevent these sort of speculations.


No matter how you look at it, this photo is very interesting considering those present in it. We’ll just have to keep waiting to see if this is really somehow hinting at something in the future.













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