After his shock retirement last year, legendary former Tekken boss has landed at one of Japan's biggest fighting game publishers

Katsuhiro Harada spent 20 years as the figurehead of Tekken before his sudden "retirement" in December. He's long been synonymous with Bandai Namco's fighting series and it was honestly a shock—even to me, a non-fighting game guy—when he left. But it turns out Harada hasn't left development nor fighting games: less than half-a-year since his December departure comes news of his new job.

Harada is now the CEO of a new studio under SNK, the storied Japanese company behind the Neo Geo and a handful of highly regarded arcade games, most of them very much Harada's stylistic wheelhouse. The King of Fighters and Fatal Fury series come immediately to mind, but you've almost certainly heard of Metal Slug as well. In addition to games you can play on your PC, SNK continues to develop for arcades too.

Harada's new studio is called VS Studio SNK, which apparently has many meanings. VS can mean "videogame soft" and it can also mean versus. But, as Harada says in a statement, it also has "many other meanings symbolizing innovation and challenge, such as 'Visionary Standard,' 'Volition Shift,' and 'Vanguard Spirit.'"

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(My favourite is volition shift.)

"Having been involved in game development for many years, I've constantly considered how I want to spend my time as a developer and what kind of environment allows developers to perform at their best," Harada said. "VS Studio is one answer to that question.

"By bringing together technology and knowledge, and working with passionate colleagues, we aim to deliver the best gaming experiences to users worldwide. VS Studio aspires to be a studio that continues to take on such challenges, and we are looking for new team members who share our vision."

New Studio “VS Studio SNK” Announced | A Message from Katsuhiro Harada - YouTube

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If VS Studio has a game in-development I'd be surprised: it was only established on May 1, and as that last quote demonstrates they're actively recruiting. It's also not a dead certainty that Harada will be developing a fighting game (though 'VS Studio' is a big hint). During his time at Bandai Namco Harada worked on a bunch of non-fighting projects including Katamari Damacy Reroll, Ace Combat: Assault Horizon, and Code Vein.