Kohei Ikeda, director of Tekken 7 and Tekken 8, announced on June 1 that he has left Bandai Namco Studios after 20 years. His other credits include Soulcalibur and Soulcalibur IV.
In a statement posted to X, Ikeda remarked that "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 [...] will never change." He also confirmed that he will continue to work in the industry as a game developer.
Ikeda's departure comes not long after a similar exit by longtime Tekken series director and producer Katsuhiro Harada at the end of 2025. Quite conspicuously, Harada just announced last month that he had established a new game development studio as a subsidiary of SNK by the name of VS Studio, prompting some speculation as to whether this could be Ikeda's next destination.
Moreover, the loss of yet another veteran paints a big question mark over the future of the Tekken series. As of the time of writing, Tekken 8 has a 'Mixed' review score on Steam, with many users expressing criticism about the DLC monetization system. Others have been unhappy with the game's design from the very start, citing changes to the battle system to encourage aggressive play over defensive manoeuvring.
Speaking of DLC, the series announced on May 25 that Yujiro Hanma from Baki the Grappler would be joining the Tekken 8 roster as an additional playable character in early 2027. Season 3 is also set to run until Winter 2027, all of which was presumably planned before Ikeda's departure.
