Kohei Ikeda, the director behind the recent fighting game hits Tekken 7 and Tekken 8, has departed from Bandai Namco Entertainment. Ikeda announced his exit on Monday, concluding a 20-year tenure with the company.
Throughout his extensive career at Bandai Namco, Ikeda played a pivotal role in the Tekken franchise. Beyond his directorial work on Tekken 7 and Tekken 8, he also served as producer for Tekken 3D Prime Edition and as a designer for Tekken Tag Tournament 2. His contributions also extended to the SoulCalibur series, where he worked as a designer and battle effect director on SoulCalibur IV.
Ikeda's departure marks another significant shift within the Tekken development team, coming shortly after the exit of former Tekken project producer and executive game director Katsuhiro Harada. Harada, a long-standing figurehead of the franchise, had collaborated closely with Ikeda for the past decade. Harada has since moved on to establish SNK's new studio, VS Studio SNK. Source: Gematsu (via Kohei Ikeda's X/Twitter account)
