Harada Drops Huge Statement On The Decline Of Soulcalibur

Katsuhiro Harada, the head of the Tekken project, sat for lunch and scrolled through his phone and saw a tweet from a Soulcalibur fan who was of the opinion that if the game had had a director like Harada, it would have done so much better over the years. The poster, Jason Montoya, stated that the lack of cohesion in the mechanics of Soulcalibur had a lot to do with its downfall and that if the team would only implement most of the mechanics of Soulcalibur II, then they would be on course for a successful reintroduction of the franchise to a younger audience. 

Harada, who said that since he had a lunch break he could respond, then dropped a full article as a response where he addressed the tweet and gave some keen insight into what goes on behind the scenes in Japanese gaming companies. 

It is an absolutely long read, but he mentioned that the first factor to consider is the change in marketing for games in general. In the arcade days when players could simply put in a coin and try out a game and if they like it, keep playing, and if not, put it down, things were easier. But, with the advent of the home console market, companies had to find a way to entice players to pay for the game even before ever playing it, meaning that system mechanics were not the driver behind sales anymore. 

He also noted that Soulcalibur was going in the right direction, but organization changes chipped away at the team behind the game which also weakened the game. 

Harada pointed to Tekken as an example and said that at a time, he was taken off the project to do something else for the company, but determined by himself that he would have the Tekken team remain in place with him at the helm even with his new responsibilities. According to Harada, this was not a popular decision, but over time might be considered the right one.

Harada ended his article on a hopeful note, stating that he believes that there are still people within Bandai Namco who want to make a great Soulcalibur game but they are just not united at the moment.