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Aunt Gladys. Tyler, the Creator. That sex scene in “The Naked Gun.” These are the things Culture staffers couldn’t stop thinking about this year.

Veteran Tekken game developer Katsuhiro Harada announced his departure from Bandai Namco after spending 30 years with the company.

After many years and decades crafting the world of Tekken, the person behind it all is throwing in the towel. Well-known Tekken game developer Katsuhiro Harada announced he will be leaving Bandai Namco at the end of 2025. Harada issued a statement this morning with a heartfelt message about how much he thought about this decision. The Tekken 8 team also made a statement regarding the status of the game’s updates.

The Tekken franchise has been a genre-defining fighting game world, standing alongside Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter. Harada was the mastermind behind the game’s success over the years, becoming the face of the series at events. While Harada stepping away from Bandai Namco marks the end of an era, the Tekken 8 team said his exit will not impact ongoing development or the post-launch roadmap. They emphasized their commitment to continuing the series “with the vision and spirit built by Harada-san,” promising to keep community feedback at the core of their approach as the well-known fighting game franchise moves into its next era.

Harada explained that his decision to leave came after a period of personal and professional loss. He continued elaborating that the “loss of several close friends” and watching senior colleagues retire or pass away caused him to reflect deeply on “the time [he] has left as a creator.” After decades spent shaping the world, characters, and legacy of Tekken, he felt this was the most befitting time to cap off his own legacy.

He followed up with an outlined message, looking back on his time beginning at Bandai Namco. He recalled his humble beginnings at local Japanese arcade tournaments and traced his journey through the studio’s growth and Tekken’s global rise. He thanked fans for their unwavering support and said he will share details about his future plans in due course.

Harada left off on two final notes, involving two of the last upcoming related activities on his agenda. The first announcements he revealed was that “Bandai Namco has asked [him] to appear at the TWT Finals at the end of January 2026, so [he is] expect[ed] to attend as a guest.” For those of you have seen Harada at these tournaments, you know how great he is and and loves competing too.

The second announcement was a more funny one. His final message stated, “For 30 years I kept saying, “I’ll do it someday,” and never once performed as a DJ at a tournament event. So instead, I will be releasing—for the first and last time—a 60-minute TEKKEN DJ-style nonstop mix (DJ mix), personally edited by myself, together with this announcement. Listening to it brings back many memories. Thank you again, sincerely, for all these years.”

Let us know your favourite Tekken or favourite Katsuhiro Harada memory. While doing so, give a listen to Harada’s mix too.

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Kiborg developer Sobaka Studios is switching genres with its next game, moving from a roguelite beat ’em up to a party game that stars chickens. Chicken Chicken will see up to eight players compete against each other online in a variety of challenges to come out on top. A demo is being released today on Steam and Epic Game Store, which will have three of the events players will face off against each other in.

“We come from a background of dark, violent action games like KIBORG, so Chicken Chicken might seem a bit unusual,” said Dmitry Kachkov, Head of Sobaka Studio. “But when you feel the pain of reaching the top of the mountain in Climbing Up…and someone hits you with a rocket launcher and sends you all the way to the bottom, you will understand.”

The list of the events available in the Chicken Chicken demo are:

• Cars – players will race against each other to collect seed bags and deliver them to a giant chicken at the top of a mountain.
• Climbing Up – players are tasked with climbing up a mountain made of old buildings while evading cannons dotted around the map, and rockets from the launchers other players can pick up.
• Swamp – the one team game in this demo where two teams are tethered to a giant chicken and attempt to catch flies. Breaking the tether or falling into the swamp are two issues that need to be avoided.

Chicken Chicken is due to release in 2026. In our review of Kiborg, Adrian wrote, “Too much of my time with Kiborg was spent thinking how much more fun I’d be having if the game dumped the roguelite elements and just went full old-school third person action brawler. So many of its failings could be ignored in that form. Instead, Kiborg is a slightly underwhelming rougelite that looks like it should be far more fun that it is.”

Source: Press Release

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