Nobody likes loss of life threats or in any other case intimidating remarks that threaten violence. Such feedback are callous, dehumanizing, pointless, unproductive, and do nothing for anybody. Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada made that expressly clear, telling people to not ask him for shit if all they’re going to do is ship warning pictures.
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Harada has been related to Bandai Namco’s long-running 3D preventing sport franchise since its 1994 inception, beginning out as a voice actor for characters like Bruce Lee-clone Marshall Legislation and roboninja Yoshimitsu earlier than changing into a director of Tekken 3 and govt producer of Tekken 6. Now Tekken 8 is on the horizon, with Harada serving because the director of the upcoming brawl-em-up. Forward of its nonetheless unannounced launch, the final installment made an look at this yr’s Evolution Championship Sequence (EVO) match. It was an enormous occasion, the largest the competitors has seen thus far, full of heartfelt moments and melting equipment. However not lengthy after its conclusion, which got here with its fair proportion of game-related bulletins, Harada allegedly discovered himself on the receiving finish of some actually pointless threats of violence.
Harada: Threatening builders leads nowhere good
Harada tweeted on August 9 a screenshot of somebody saying they’ll hit him “with a burning hammer” if longtime Tekken capoeira fighter Eddy Gordo doesn’t seem in Tekken 8. See, regardless that the sport’s not out but, a leaked roster has led people to consider the sport will probably be lacking numerous characters, Eddy being one among them. Different mainstays that aren’t on the purported listing embody the aforementioned Yoshimitsu, fairly boy boxer Steve, and demon hottie Satan Jin, which if true, is a bummer. However once more, the sport doesn’t actually have a launch date but, and the data is unconfirmed. That hasn’t stopped people from saying they’ll harm Harada.
“When individuals make these foolish threats,” Harada mentioned on X (previously Twitter), “I and everybody [in the fighting game community suffers] the next losses.”
The primary “loss,” he wrote, is that due to these threats of violence, occasion organizers overreact and improve safety, which raises each working prices and attendee nervousness. If the menace is dangerous sufficient, the occasion will even ask Harada to cancel his look. One other is that “firm founders, board members, and legal professionals” dislike intimidation techniques, and will in the end immediate them to cancel the inclusion of an asked-for character who was beforehand deliberate to look.
“By fanatics behaving excessively, repeating these phrases and actions, or Pretend info and hoaxes, or Threats, the motivation of the event employees will lower quickly,” Harada mentioned in conclusion. “And consequently, the requests of fanatics will probably be removed from being realized.”
In the long run, Harada summarized his level saliently with a single quote retweet, referencing a t-shirt he as soon as infamously wore to a Tekken match:
“Don’t ask me for shit,” he wrote.
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Kotaku reached out to Bandai Namco and Harada for remark.
