Kohei Ikeda – director of Tekken 8 and 20-year veteran at Bandai Namco – has announced his departure from the company.
In a statement posted on social media, Ikeda expressed his love for fighting games and his coworkers on the Tekken development team.
“I am deeply proud that I had the opportunity to create games alongside such incredible people who poured their hearts into this work,” Ikeda wrote. “While my role leading the team as game director is coming to a close, the values that both I personally and the Tekken project have always cherished – staying close to the fans and the community and building the game together with everyone – will never change.
“I have entrusted those values, and that baton, to the incredible team that will continue to shape the future of Tekken. As I look forward to the future of Tekken and the FGC (fighting game community), I will also continue taking on new challenges as a game developer. I hope our paths cross again someday.”
While the statement indicates he’s not retiring, Ikeda has not revealed what his next step in his game development career will be. His departure follows Tekken 8 executive game director Katsuhiro Harada in December 2025, as well as producer Yohei Shimbori in August 2025.
This announcement comes at a time of controversy for Tekken 8. While official support for the game has continued, including the recent reveal of Grappler Baki’s Yujio Hanma as the game’s next DLC character, recent major updates have been received poorly by its fanbase.
The game’s third season patch garnered the ire of Tekken 8 fans, who expressed frustration at the game’s overly aggressive nature standing firm in spite of developer pledges to bring things “back to basics”. While emergency patches were announced in response to this feedback, it marked a continuous air of frustration surrounding the game.
As such the future of Tekken currently is a bit of a mystery. Meanwhile, some of its former leads have started new ventures, including Harada’s new studio backed by SNK. Harada, interestingly enough, has commented on the future of Tekken in new hands, believing it won’t be hard for the series to “continue with someone else”.
