The Godfather of Tekken: A Look At Katsuhiro Harada’s Online Presence
Amongst the crowded and lucrative videogames market, one of the most enduring franchises is Tekken: a fighting game series which began in arcades in 1994. With its eighth numbered instalment releasing in January of this year, Tekken has cemented itself as one of the billion-dollar industry’s key franchises.
As the gaming market has grown, so too has interest in the creation of the videogames which so many know and love, leading to a greater social media presence for some of the industry’s leading developers. One such “dev” is Katsuhiro Harada — the “Godfather of Tekken”. A part of the Tekken franchise since its inception, Harada has become known for his irreverent attitude and high level of engagement with fans. Nowhere is this more apparent than on his X (formerly Twitter) account, which boasts over 288 thousand followers.
Putting in Work
As a recurring game director on the Tekken series, Harada often shares news and promotional material for the franchise, acting as an extension of production company Bandai Namco’s marketing efforts.
Love for the Fans
Along with promoting the franchise, @Harada_TEKKEN acts as the producer’s personal social media account with which he broadcasts personal opinions and interacts with the Tekken and broader fighting game community (also known as the FGC).
As seen above, Harada uses his account to share the works of the Tekken community with his followers — high praise from the Game Director himself!
Harada writes and shares posts in both English and his native language of Japanese. This means that he can reach a wider audience as seen below in a Japanese-language post by EVO Japan (a regional event for one of the FGC’s most famous tournaments), shared by Harada:
Mishima Mockery
Harada often jokes with his fans online, as shown above in his humorous response to a fan’s in-game customisation of a Tekken 8 character, dressing the robot fighter Jack-8 as famous Tekken character Heihachi Mishima. After the light-hearted comment, Harada also takes the opportunity to update players on an active in-game issue such, showing how easily the director can use social media to blend different tones.
Going Viral
The antics of high-profile figures in the videogame world can garner much attention. In response to numerous fan requests for the popular Final Fantasy VII character Tifa Lockheart’s guest appearance in Tekken 8’s upcoming DLC (Downloadable Content), Harada responded in a now-viral post, stating “we all know she is attractive and I understand that” in response to the character’s immense popularity across both fanbases. Take a look at the post, which now has over 2.7 million views on X:
The post became so popular that gaming publication IGN reported on Harada’s response. Also noteworthy is Harada’s decision to update fans on Tekken 8’s DLC, revealing that guest characters had not yet been decided upon in a remarkable act of transparency in an industry which prizes its surprise reveals and secrets.
This cursory glance at one of the videogame industry’s most prolific social media users shows how high-profile users can communicate directly with fans in the digital world.
