Overview
- Kohei Ikeda, who led Tekken 7 and Tekken 8 development, said he left Bandai Namco on Monday and that he plans to continue working as a game developer.
- Ikeda’s exit follows producer Yohei Shimbori’s August 2025 departure and Katsuhiro Harada’s exit in December 2025, making him the third major Tekken lead to leave in about nine months.
- Tekken 8 has faced strong fan anger over recent Season 2 and Season 3 updates that pushed an overly aggressive game meta and Heat‑system imbalances, prompting emergency patches and iterative fixes from the team.
- Industry and fan outlets are speculating that some departing veterans could join Harada’s new VS Studio at SNK but there is no confirmation that Ikeda will take a role there.
- Ikeda said he has entrusted Tekken’s values to the remaining team, and his departure leaves a clear leadership gap that could affect future balance updates, developer staffing, and community trust as Bandai Namco confirms new leads and hires.