Tekken 8 Game Director Katsuhiro Harada has been increasingly active on social media, and thus offers a relatable personality through which many of us get to see glimpses of the inside of the world of game development.
Harada recently shared an X post in which offered one of those glimpses, at least from his personal, 30+ years of experience. Harada expressed senses of fatigue and monotony that take root in the spirit of game development when goals shift from creative passion to financial returns, and unexpectedly used 2019’s Joker trailer to underscore his point.
Early Monday morning (this seems to very much be a Monday train of thought) Harada took to X to vent some emotion, noting how he absolutely loves the gaming industry, but has survived seasons throughout his career in which he’s seen it fall into rote, inspiration deserts.
He doesn’t express exactly why quite yet, but he finishes the post by quoting a few lines from the 2019 Joker trailer wherein Arthur Fleck moves through a particularly dark conversation with his mental health counselor that points to an existence that lacks meaning and culminates with the statement, “All I have are negative thoughts.”
“(It has nothing to do with Tekken) I LOVE the video game industry, I don’t think there is a better calling, and I consider myself to be an ever-positive person,” he starts. “But, but, but….Being in this industry for so long, or perhaps because I have been in it for so long, I have also witnessed moments when the dream gaming world and ideals I was in crumbled. Only in such moments do I get a glimpse of why the movie [JOKER] was a huge hit, despite the controversy.”
“You just ask the same questions every week”
“How’s your job?”
“Are you having any negative thoughts?”
“All I have are negative thoughts”
“I realize that I have moments like that when I’ve lived long enough,” finishes Harada.
(It has nothing to do with TEKKEN)
I LOVE the video game industry, I don’t think there is a better calling, and I consider myself to be an ever-positive person.
But, but, but….Being in this industry for so long, or perhaps because I have been in it for so long, I have also…— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) September 9, 2024
Luckily, Harada went into further detail after another X user posed a follow up question asking if there were any way for the industry to return to better times.
Harada’s response revealed where he sees the root of the problem: prioritizing return on investment over inspired exploration.
“It depends on whether there is a return to the starting point of ‘investment in possibilities and dreams,’ rather than ‘return on investment,’ he replies. “Our industry, all involved, has become ‘too focused on stable business.’ For example, Nintendo and PlayStation’s God Father Mr. Kutaragi and Yu Suzuki of Sega invested more in the challenge of ‘Dreams and Ideals’ THAN in the stability of their businesses and titles.”
It depends on whether there is a return to the starting point of “investment in possibilities and dreams,” rather than “return on investment. Our industry, all involved, has become “too focused on stable business.”
For example, Nintendo and PlayStation’s God Father Mr.Kutaragi… https://t.co/KgOSqek2CY— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) September 9, 2024
This isn’t some new revelation; overly-conservative approaches lead to ossification as a rule. To the degree the gaming (or any other) industry leans into the safe arena of using only what has worked in the past, it sacrifices the motivating spirits of innovation, exploration, and novelty.
You absolutely need to remember history and use the information and patterns that success is built upon, that’s having one foot in the past. You also need one foot firmly in the future, maintaining a willingness to take risks and pursue unrefined ideas with widely unknown consequences.
So where is the fighting game industry here in the fourth quarter of 2024? Is there healthy balance between aiming at return on investment and “investment in possibilities and dreams,” or is the content coming out of titan developers like Capcom, Bandai Namco, and NetherRealm Studios leaning too heavily into the former?
This is a particularly tricky question for fighting games, since so much of the content is widely reused and only partially updated.
The Street Fighter community is currently extremely excited for SNK’s Tery Bogard, a 30+ year old character, to join Street Fighter 6 as the franchise’s first official guest from outside Capcom franchises. One could argue this is a healthy display of simultaneously building on what has worked and progressing into new arenas with it.
Mortal Kombat has, yet again, updated its central story with a new timeline. Soon to be released DLC characters Cyrax and Sektor have been gender swapped for just one example of Mortal Kombat 1’s many updated approaches to legacy character design.
NetherRealm Studios also designed Mortal Kombat 1 around the Kameo mechanic, tag-team approach to the franchise’s gameplay (new) that exclusively features blast from the past versions of legacy characters (old).
Tekken, which celebrated its 30 year anniversary this year, is often cited as a franchise that players can transition through relatively easily because of how consistent character designs are. Meanwhile new modes, new characters, guests from outside the franchise, and new mechanics like Rage help usher Tekken into the future.
These are only snippet examples of fighting game franchises’ efforts to maintain appropriate balance between new and old, and we’d need much more detailed analysis to come to sufficient conclusions as to whether the developers behind them are erring on the side of conservatism, progressivism, or are riding a wave of balance between the two.
We can also turn to our guts for quicker answers and so we pose the question to you: are modern fighting games doing it right? You know if they’re continually engaging as opposed to obligatory, if your initial reactions to DLC are more commonly focused on the excitement of the content or the weight of the price, and if latest mechanics feel like threads woven through the fight to redefine it in an enticing way, or just surface level masks strewn over the top of the experience.
Harada banner image credit: Yves Tennevin.