Harada Interview on Korean Site Inven

Inven is a Korean gaming site that also managed to score an interview with Harada while he was taking the time to visit Korea recently. The interview goes over quite a number of topics that includes Harada's current projects at Namco like Tekken 7, Tekken X Street Fighter and Pokken. I went and translated/compiled all the interesting bits of information from the interview here excluding the Summer Lesson bits which I don't think there's much people interested in. You can look up the source of the interview on the Inven website.

▌Inven Interview with Harada
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Question: In the Street Fighter series, Jury was a newly added character from Korea. Was there any kind of discussion of adding a new character from South Korea into Tekken 7?

Harada: Yeah there was actually. During the development of TEKKEN 7, I was interested and talking about it with the team to include a female Korean fighter that uses the Taekkyeon martial art.

Harada: I went to gather some opinions from Korean gamers on that character design but it seems like it wasn't a popular idea. There were a lot more opinions asking for a handsome, strong male Korean fighter instead.

Harada: Although my age group/generation in Japan also prefers new male fighters, the newer young audience in Japan that grew up on Anime prefer 'cute' styled new female characters. There's various tastes in character designs that vary from country to country.

Harada: If you look at America for instance, players over there prefer really manly and strong looking male fighters. In European regions with no Japanese related media and influence, Yoshimitsu is the most popular character.

Question: So you decided now to add Lucky Chloe into Tekken?

Harada: We've taken into consideration the taste of the younger generation of Japanese players that grew up on Anime culture. There's also a growing audience overseas that frequently watch and enjoy Anime made in Japan. We've made Lucky Chloe in mind for these audience/players. We have a feeling that this kind of character will appeal to those that like characters like Hatsune Miku.

Question: What was the reason for adopting the Unreal Engine 4 for Tekken7?

Harada: We wanted to take advantage of the Unreal Engine 4's graphical capabilities and output. Additionally it was much cheaper to pay the royalties for using such an engine then paying in house development staff for a long period of time to make our own new engine from scratch. With the UE4, character interactions with the enviroment creating debris are formed more realistically in the stages. We're also utilising it's ability to render realistic lighting within the stages and on characters.

Question: How long has Tekken 7 been in development?

Harada: The time it took to do research on the Unreal Engine 4 as well as what to implement into the game took about a year. After that, the actual development of the game took 10 months and is still on going. The arcade release of Tekken 7 is within 2 months from now.

Question: What can you tell of the story of Tekken 7?

Harada: Well it's been about 20 years now and we're still on about the Mishima family. It's a little disappointing to me personally to put an end to it with Tekken 7 but we figured that now was the time to conclude this saga for the sake of progressing the story and for all the manga/game-like players that enjoy the story aspect of the games.

Question: Tekken as a series is quite popular in Korea compared to other countries. What do you think is the reason for this?

Harada: For the 20 years that I've been with the series, out of all the time I've been to Korea I usually hear feedback that they enjoy how the game plays. How it got popular there, I think I don't really know fully myself.

Question: What's the release date/timing for Tekken 7 now?

Harada: We're working on the Arcade Edition of the game which we're planning to launch around March next year. For the console versions, generally they take about a year after the release of the arcade version. We're going to plan on the console version release date after the release of the arcade versions.

Question: Since Tekken 7 Arcade is being released in March, do you plan on working on Tekken X Street Fighter after it?

Harada: The base system for Tekken X Street Fighter has already been developed. However we're currently working on Tekken 7 then planning on adding updates to that game later down the line which we have to finish first.

Next fiscal year, Street Fighter 5 is planning on coming out so I also have to plan for a strategy on when to reveal and release Tekken X Street Fighter that doesn't conflict with other games.

Interviewer: There's rumors floating around about a PC version of Tekken 7

Harada: Yeah, rumors. We have not yet decided/confirmed platforms other then the arcade since it is not yet done yet. We are considering a PC version for certain countries that prefer/need to play a PC version. In addition to that though, we'd have to plan for optimizations for such a version so that the common PC user can run and play the game with the Unreal Engine 4. The PC version of Tekken 7 is not yet confirmed at this stage.

Question: Since the game will arrive in March, is it possible to see Tekken 7 at EVO 2015?

Harada: We haven't heard anything from EVO's side yet. We haven't decided anything yet on a planned appearance over at the event.

Question: What do you think about the currently in development Street Fighter 5?

Harada: Interesting since I got contacted prior to the event in Las Vegas which Ono-san was attending. When the game's announcement got leaked, I received a call early morning from Ono who was furiuos. That's what I remember most about SF5.

Harada: Regarding the game, it's only about 20% complete from development so I think that the game will eventually look a lot more better then it does from what is currently revealed to the public.

Question: You’re producing Pokkén. Are there many restraints on its development?

Harada: The Pokémon Company has really strict guidelines, more strict than any other game. There’s also a huge fanbase of children, so we have to be careful to obey a lot of rules with those matters. Surprisingly, they weren’t as strict as I expected them to be with Pokkén. We sent the Pokémon Company 20 ideas and they allowed all of them barring one: I suggested that we have different Pokémon Trainers fight, and they immediately denied it.

Question: If Pokkén turns out to be successful, will you continue to make new titles for the series?

Harada: I feel like we would always be able to improve Pokkén if there were later installments. Of course having over 700 different Pokémon gives us the opportunity to expand the game quite easily.

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Translation contributions added from Ryoji.

Interview Source ≫ http://www.inven.co.kr/webzine/news/?news=124078

Comments

[t3k4evo]

@reality---> As for Jun, you westerners wants to include her in the roster while we asians dont like her. No one even play her even at home consoles. Even Harada says it in tekken invades tokyo. If Namco is right about Jun why they arent right about yoshimitsu? Dont make a logical fallacy debate with me, just answer the question. Logical fallacy debates are too stale and mundane. We're not practicing law and we're not into politics. If you have your way you will debate and argue all advertisements and commercials because theyre using logical fallacies and lies. In the end youre only speaking in your own experience and anecdotal evidence. Wheres your evidence like a article or stats that yoshimitsu isnt the most popular character in europe? I really want to see for namco to remove yoshimitsu I really do. Lets see now what the community will react, while I enjoy watching and reading reaction vids and comments in YT and tekken sites like these. If you all think lucky chloe and mr naps is bad, I want to see how bad it would be if yoshimitsu will removed.

@cunty mccunt----> Too bad he isnt in tekken revolution. Since revolution gameplay appeal to western audience. If yoshimitsu is in that game many people especially in europe will play as him. Internet isnt the real world. Many people here in internet, online multiplayer and arcade dont want to play yoshimitsu that includes me. But deep inside you have to admit he has one of the best character designs in the game. He is too damn popular he made a cameo in soul calibur. He is also popular that it warrants him to be in street fighter x tekken.

As for VF, I want to see members here on this site to play dead or alive and virtua fighter online. Which they dont. And its because its hard, even the passionate VF fanatics says the command lists are too hard. Akira knee in particular even needs a own separate tutorial video. Thats how hard VF really is. But hey... competitive gamers here should insult casual players here and make logical fallacy debates, and not addressing the real problem. 3-d fighting games is way too hard even though it shouldnt be.

[t3k4evo]

Since Im at it, cunty mccunt also likes yoshimitsu design and character. He just dont want to play as him. Quite simple really. I dont like playing as him either but I like him as a character

[t3k4evo]

My last post here for now, 2 of the members here interrupt me on my rant last time. But then who besides the moderators can stop me from expressing my opinions? Words cant stop me. Anyway I deleted DOA and VF5 even though its free on PS plus. Only VF5 fanatics can only enjoy these games. The hard truth not the illogical fallacy nonsense that can be debated, just one cold hard fact is even jimmy j tram plays tekken revolution. This came from his own mouth. He plays tekken revolution more than he think he would. It means he have a guilty pleasure playing a game he thinks is dumb. Quite a hypocrite for a so called pro player bashing aris and the community itself for playing such games, and yet playing the same game he hates. Is this the western gaming community wants the whole world to see? Honest question.

As for the command lists of VF5 and DoA we're not robots. Even veteran players hardly use akira because he is simply hard to use. The one button for punch and one button for kick only makes the gamers play style worse than better. The buttons are just too limited for a complicated combos and moves. Even the command lists serve as a mini game. Which means even the developers knew that the execution of the moves are too hard, that it cant be done all in one sitting. Theres even a save point for it.

You all should watch the VF5 tournament in japan on youtube. According to the vid the video upload 6 years ago with only over 36000 views. The exhibition match of USF4 in official street fighter channel? Over 130,000 views and thats not even a official tournament. Team spooky vid of USF4 top 8 have over 300,000 views. IGN USF4 EVO 2014 grand finals almost have 400,000 views. And thats the post event vid. According to EVO USF4 has the most join participant with almost 2000 people.

Im not speaking to aris, the casual community and USF4 but the almost worshiping a game genre ruin the community. The people here just cover the ears and say LALAALALA loud. Making the arguments opposite of what the ordinary gamers wants with the genre. A average gamer says its too hard. the community says its easy and button masher friendly. A casual gamer says the fights are too boring, the community says the fight is more realistic so its like watching a martial art movie. A casual veteran player says virtua fighter hardly no effects, the community says it doesnt need to. No wonder this genre is crumbling.

Many people here says they want this series and the 3-d fighting game genre to evolve. But how will this games evolve if the community isnt? This is my honest opinion but I want Namco and the tekken team to listen and address the fans. Just give what the community wants. A injustice type singleplayer? A tutorial mode? Different move sets event though the character movements is the same as T3? Different costumes even though SF characters retain there default costumes in over 20 years? New graphics? Bring back the bound system? A tag mode on a numbered series? Ruining the spin off potential sales and popularity? New characters replacing the old characters? Even though some characters are too iconic to replaced like Paul and Law? Add more modes like tekken bowl and tekken ball? Even though T5 sell a lot of copies without it? Sure why not.