Harada Reveals Deep Struggles Following Tekken 4 Release

Katsuhiro Harada has taken to some straight honesty in recent times with his dealings with the Tekken community. He has revealed old industry stories, details that people were not aware of, and a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff that has provided great insight. 

Following some of the displeasure at the upcoming second season of Tekken 8, Harada was once more very candid with some troubles he has had in the past. Specifically he spoke about the issues surrounding Tekken 4 and how he even developed a condition where he lost all the hair on one side of his body and even had to leave the company for a little bit. 

This was in response to a tweet by someone who called Tekken 4 the most authentic of the titles. 

Harada responded saying that while it's called a masterpiece now, this wasn't so back then when he faced relentless criticism. 

"Well, I’m aware of that kind of praise." He said

"But back then, I was absolutely bombarded with criticism — I didn’t have a single ally. Not one. That’s a well-known story inside the company. 

"I was under so much stress at the time that I developed a mysterious condition where all the hair on the right side of my body fell out — just the right side. Even the hair on my arms, eyebrows, and eyelashes disappeared."

He talked about how this has been different with the game's coverage nowadays, "Now, in the present day, the critics have all forgotten their complaints, and only those who want to praise the game remain. That’s the only reason it's being treated like a masterpiece. 

"For me, whether good or bad, this title remains a constant reminder and lesson to myself. (To make things even more confusing for me, the game actually ended up selling well... Metacritics and User reviews were the worst in the Numbering series,,, Actually, there was a period — just for about a year before development on Tekken 5 began — when I left Namco due to the stress and shock. It’s not a widely known fact, though."

Harada has had his hands full following a community-wide meltdown following some of the proposed changes coming to season 2 of Tekken 8, especially around the issue of throw escapes still costing some chip damage. 

The opinion of some professionals though, has been that people should wait to see how it plays before making definitive judgments.