Katsuhiro Harada

Japanese video game director and producer (born 1970)

Katsuhiro Harada

Harada in 2013

Born|  (1970-06-10) June 10, 1970 (age 54)

Osaka, Japan

Alma mater| Waseda University
Occupations|

* Director
* producer

Years active| 1994–present
Employer| Bandai Namco Entertainment
Notable work| Tekken series
Title| General Manager

Katsuhiro Harada (原田 勝弘, Harada Katsuhiro, born June 10, 1970) is a Japanese game director and producer for Bandai Namco Entertainment. He is best known for his work with the fighting game series Tekken.

## Biography

[edit]

Harada was born in Osaka, Japan, and grew up within the Nara Prefecture region.[1] He later moved to Tokyo, Japan. During his childhood, video games were viewed with a great deal of suspicion in Japan. His parents would not buy him a home console, and as a result often sneaked into arcade centres, where he would occasionally be discovered and dragged out. He worked hard and ended up securing a place at Waseda University. He has studied judo, karate and a little bit of taekwondo in the past.[2] He attended Waseda University along with Dead or Alive creator Tomonobu Itagaki[3] and holds a degree in psychology. During his university studies, he took a few Chinese language courses, albeit finding it very difficult.[4] After graduating from university, he joined Namco to become a promoter. His parents were initially unhappy with his pursuit in a career with the video game industry, but have since accepted him in his work.[5]

During his first year working in the Namco arcade, Harada surpassed the sales record two months in a row, and subsequently received an award of commendation from the president of Namco. Thanks to the award, Harada now had a platform to approach the management and request that they move him into game development. Towards the end of the first year at Namco, they gave him a position on the first Tekken title.[6]

He voiced Forest Law in Tekken 3 and Tekken Tag Tournament, Marshall Law from Tekken until Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection, Yoshimitsu from Tekken until Tekken Tag Tournament and Kunimitsu in Tekken. He is known within the fanbase for his sense of humor, such as his comical rivalry with former Street Fighter producer (producer from 2008-2020), Yoshinori Ono, jokes around the character Leo Kliesen in Tekken 6 because of their ambiguous gender, and for attending EVO 2017 in a shirt that read "Don't Ask Me for Shit". Harada is also a member of Project Soul (the team behind the Soulcalibur franchise) and makes an appearance in Soulcalibur V as a bonus character.[citation needed]

By 2019, Harada had been promoted to lead the fighting game esports division of Bandai Namco, as well as to being a general manager at the company overall.[7][8]

## Works

[edit]

Year  | Title  | Position

|
|

1994  | Tekken | Voice actor (Marshall Law, Yoshimitsu, Kunimitsu)
1995  | Tekken 2 | Voice actor (Marshall Law, Yoshimitsu)
1997  | Tekken 3 | Director, voice actor (Yoshimitsu, Forest Law)
1999  | Tekken Tag Tournament
2001  | Tekken Advance | Director
Tekken 4 | Director, voice actor (Marshall Law)
2004  | Tekken 5
2005  | Tekken 5: Dark Resurrection | Project supervisor, voice actor (Marshall Law)
2007  | Soulcalibur Legends | Contributor
Tekken 6 | Executive producer
2008  | Tekken 6: Bloodline Rebellion
Soulcalibur IV | Co-director
2011  | Ace Combat: Assault Horizon | Game concept supervisor
Tekken Tag Tournament 2 | Executive producer
2012  | Project X Zone | Supervisor
Street Fighter X Tekken | Director
Tekken 3D: Prime Edition | Executive producer
Hyperdimension Neptunia Victory | Voice actor (Kuma)
PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale | Supervisor
2013  | Tekken Revolution | Executive producer
2014  | Ace Combat Infinity | Project leader
2015  | Digimon Story: Cyber Sleuth | Supervisor
Tekken 7 | Director
Pokkén Tournament | Producer
Lost Reavers | Executive producer
2016  | Tekken 7: Fated Retribution | Director
Summer Lesson | Chief producer
Project X Zone 2 | Supervisor, global marketing general manager
Dark Souls III | Global marketing general manager
2017  | Pokkén Tournament DX | Producer
2018  | Katamari Damacy Reroll | General producer
Soulcalibur VI | Executive advisor
Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom | General manager, worldwide marketing department
Naruto to Boruto: Shinobi Striker | Global marketing general manager
My Hero Academia: One's Justice
God Eater 3 | Global marketing
Dark Souls: Remastered | Global marketing general manager
Black Clover: Quartet Knights
11-11: Memories Retold | General manager of marketing
2019  | The Dark Pictures: Man of Medan | General producer
Code Vein
Ace Combat 7: Skies Unknown | Marketing general manager
2021  | Tales of Arise | General producer
2022  | Tekken: Bloodline | Executive producer
2024  | Tekken 8

## References

[edit]

1. ^ "Overview - Katsuhiro Harada". Archived from the original on 2019-02-19. Retrieved 2015-07-01.
2. ^ Michael Murray [@mykeryu] (10 May 2019). "Woke up this morning and reached 10,000 followers! Also, officially from April I am the main producer on the Tekken franchise (including Japan, merchandising, everything related to the IP) so I look forward to further interactions with you all :)" (Tweet) - via Twitter.
3. ^ Katsuhiro Harada [@Harada_TEKKEN] (27 April 2012). "ワシ、大阪生まれの奈良育ち。DoAの板垣氏と早稲田に入学して以来、ずっと東京だけど、寝言はいまだに関西弁らしい。ハギーさんはカプコン広報だってば！（笑） RT@harakubashi 原田さん関東の人じゃなかったんですか(笑) ちなみにハギー氏ってお笑い芸人の方なんですか！？" (Tweet) - via Twitter.
4. ^ Katsuhiro Harada [@Harada_TEKKEN] (6 April 2013). "大学の頃第二外国語に中国語を選択していましたが、難しくて無理でした・・・。海外出張が多いので各国言語の必要最低限は覚えるようにしていますが。 RT@AirSlicer1986 原田さんの語学力にびっくりしていますわ。一体、何ヶ国語できますと？ちなみに、中国語は？？？？？？" (Tweet) - via Twitter.
5. ^ Grey, Jonathan 'Catalyst' (23 September 2013). "Harada's parents broke into tears when he initially got involved with video games - he used psychology background to boost sales". EventHubs. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
6. ^ "Harada was interviewed by the video game magazine Edge". Edge Online Magazine. 2013-09-23. Archived from the original on 2013-09-26. Retrieved 2015-07-11.
7. ^ Harada, Katsuhiro (26 December 2018). "To everyone in the "DRAGON BALL FighterZ", "TEKKEN", and "SoulCalibur" community. Please read & refer to the following link. Thanks!!!". Retrieved 16 June 2019.
8. ^ Harada, Katsuhiro (26 December 2018). "I'm the general manager of develop & produce of Bandai Namco original titles from this term (ex: TEKKEN, Ace Combat, Tales of, Dark Soul, Soul Calibur, etc..). I'll also continue with eSports' strategy leader. Sometimes I might Tweet something unrelated to TEKKEN, but forgive me". Retrieved 16 June 2019.

## External links

[edit]

* Katsuhiro Harada on Twitter
* Katsuhiro Harada at IMDb

* v
* t
* e

Bandai Namco Holdings

Entertainment Unit|

| Digital Business|

* Bandai Namco Entertainment
* Bandai Namco Studios
* B.B. Studio
* Broccoli
* Limbic Entertainment
* D3 Publisher

|

Toys & Hobby|

* Bandai
* Bandai Museum

IP Production Unit|

* Bandai Namco Filmworks
* Sunrise
* Bandai Namco Pictures
* Actas
* Eight Bit
* Bandai Visual
* Emotion
* Bandai Channel
* Sotsu
* Bandai Namco Music Live
* Lantis
* Highway Star
* Sunrise Music
* MoooD Records
* GloryHeaven
* StarRise
* Kiramune

Amusement Unit|

* Bandai Namco Amusement
* Hanayashiki
* Namjatown
* Gundam Park
* Pleasurecast

Affiliated Companies|

* Bandai Logipal
* Logipal Express
* Bandai Namco Business Arc
* Bandai Namco Will
* Happinet (27%)
* J-Broad

Former subsidiaries|

* Enterrium
* Italian Tomato
* Monolith Soft
* Nikkatsu

Key people|

* Katsuhiro Harada
* Masaya Nakamura
* Toru Iwatani

Defunct|

* Banpresto
* Cellius
* Daisuki
* Entertainment Software Publishing
* Namco
* Namco Bandai Partners
* Australia
* Namco Funscape
* Namco Networks
* Namco Tales Studio
* ShiftyLook
* Wonder Eggs

Related|

* List of games
* Bandai Namco
* Namco
* List of video game franchises
* List of video game compilations
* Namco Generations
* Namco Community Magazine NG
* Shimane Susanoo Magic

* v
* t
* e

Tekken

Video games|

| Main series|

* Tekken
* 2
* 3
* 4
* 5
* Dark Resurrection
* 6
* 7
* 8

|

Spin-offs|

* Card Challenge
* Tag Tournament
* Advance
* Death by Degrees
* Hybrid
* Tag Tournament 2
* 3D: Prime Edition
* Revolution
* Mobile

List of media|

| Films|

* The Motion Picture
* Tekken
* Blood Vengeance
* Kazuya's Revenge

|

TV series|

* Bloodline

Other|

* Comic

Characters|

* Christie Monteiro
* Eddy Gordo
* Heihachi Mishima
* Jin Kazama
* Julia Chang
* Kazuya Mishima
* King
* Lars Alexandersson
* Leo Kliesen
* Michelle Chang
* Nina Williams
* Yoshimitsu

Guests|

* Akuma
* Geese Howard
* Gon
* Negan Smith
* Noctis Lucis Caelum

Developers|

* Katsuhiro Harada
* Shinji Hosoe
* Seiichi Ishii
* Yuu Miyake
* Keiichi Okabe
* Nobuyoshi Sano

Related games|

* Soulcalibur
* Virtua Fighter
* Pac-Man Fever
* Namco × Capcom
* NamCollection
* Urban Reign
* Street Fighter X Tekken
* Tekken X Street Fighter
* Naruto Shippuden: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2
* Project X Zone
* Project X Zone 2
* Digimon World Re:Digitize
* PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale
* Pokkén Tournament
* The King of Fighters All Star
* Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
* Brawlhalla

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