Tekken series director and producer Katsuhiro Harada has issued a detailed clarification following widespread confusion over his recent comments about paid eSports broadcasts. The situation developed after an interview quote was circulated online, suggesting that he was considering making the Tekken World Tour finals a paid stream. Harada later explained that his remarks had been taken out of context and did not reflect any intention to adopt a paid model for Tekken events.
The original quote emerged from an interview in which Harada was asked about Capcom’s decision to charge viewers for live streams of the Capcom Cup Final and Street Fighter League World Championships. In that discussion, he noted how revenue dynamics around streaming and large-scale events have shifted. “If you look at other things such as these events that we have being streamed and people who are participating, whether they’re average streamers or big influencers. Lots of big companies are coming in and putting money into advertisements for these events, and a lot of influencers are making big money off of their streams. But the revenue for our games doesn’t reflect any of this stuff. It’s quite interesting to see how that might change,” he said. He also commented that some events “are charging pay-per-view, or something like that,” adding that observing these emerging approaches was something he was “quite interested in.”
Online sources quickly interpreted this as an indication that Tekken might follow Capcom’s approach. Harada soon responded on social media, directly rejecting the claim. “I have no idea how anyone could interpret it that way, but no matter how you look at it, TEKEKN streaming going paid is impossible,” he wrote. He questioned the reporting practices involved, stating, “Foreign journalists still just write whatever story they want, huh? I seriously doubt they even understand Japanese properly when they write.”
As further speculation spread, he reiterated that the interpretation was incorrect. “In any case, I never explicitly stated that I wanted to make streaming paid until the very end,” Harada explained, adding that he had not made paid streaming a consideration at any stage. In another response addressing a headline that falsely claimed Tekken would begin charging viewers, he stated, “I’m not sure whether that article is the original source, but as I posted earlier, in any case, I have never said that I wanted to make streaming a paid service, nor have I ever even considered doing so.”
Harada later referenced the interview source directly, noting that he only expressed curiosity about how monetization works in other companies and did not advocate adopting similar practices. He emphasized that streaming and Tekken World Tour operations “have never fallen within the scope of our business since the very beginning,” partly because prize money structures place them outside the purview of Bandai Namco’s Japanese corporate entity.
The discussion arrives during an active competitive season for Tekken 8, the latest entry in the long-running franchise. Released in January 2024 for current-generation platforms, the title serves as the foundation for the Tekken World Tour 2025, which began in May and will conclude with its Global Finals in Malmö, Sweden, early next year.
