Today
on Headline RePLAY: Mr. Tekken reiterated his stance on DLC and fan demand,
Tekken characters probably won’t be in the next Super Smash Bros. and Project
Sora closes its doors.
In
light of Nintendo’s Reggie Fils-Aime’s comments that fans are “insatiable” and
Capcom’s on-disc DLC controversy, Katsuhiro Harada, a.k.a. “Mr. Tekken,”
explains his heated letter to fans last month and repeated his uncompromising
stance that there will never be paid-DLC characters in Tekken.
“Maybe
99 percent of the fanbase I interact with on a daily basis are very normal and
straightforward in their opinions. ‘We like this, we don’t like this,’” Harada
told Eurogamer. “It’s very simple and easy to understand, and it’s good
feedback. I didn’t let it get to me at first, and if it was just me they were
spamming it wouldn’t be an issue.”
“But
they started spamming different game producers, other people I follow on
Twitter, non-gamers related people, even friends, telling them ‘Please tell
Harada to do this or that,” he explained. “It was quite embarrassing they were
doing this, so I really wanted to stop it. And at the same time, I explained
the reasons why the voice actors had changed.”
Harada
agreed with Fils-Aime’s statement that it was “impossible” to satisfy the
fanbase “100 percent,” but found that “99 percent” was tenable.
“Reggie-san
was mentioning that there’s really no end to the requests and expectations from
fans, and that I can agree with,” said Harada. “It’s impossible to please
everyone 100 percent. 99 percent is maybe possible, by implementing requested
features in your game. But you run into problems with securing staff for
development. Adhering to fan requests means more work, which means people don’t
get the game in their hands as fast as they like. It’s very difficult.
“But
with Tekken Tag Tournament 2 we have
really gone above and beyond what we normally do for fans on this project.
Maybe 99 percent satisfaction can be achieved.”
In
stark contrast to Capcom’s recent on-disc DLC practices with Street Fighter X Tekken, Harada was
adamant that there won’t be any on-disc DLC or paid-DLC characters. In the
interview, however, while Harada reaffirmed his stance on no paid-DLC
characters, he conceded that some on-disc DLC may be necessary.
“When
you look at DLC, whether paid or free, a lot of titles have it on disc, it’s
not that unusual,” he noted. “I’ve been saying that, at least for Tekken,
regarding techniques, characters and stages, these three things won’t be
charged for, even if they are DLC.
“Saying
that, if someone has a particular character they’ve downloaded and they play
someone who doesn’t have that character, it might take five minutes for the
person to then download the data to play against this person. This wouldn’t be
very realistic and wouldn’t give a favorable impression, so we do plan to
address these issues. So some content may be on disc, some might not. But since
it’s free it shouldn’t be an issue.”
Despite
his stance on paid-DLC characters, Harada acknowledged that he is “continually
asked” on DLC plans by his higher ups in Namco Bandai.
“Actually
this is something my bosses have been asking me for quite a while now—what are
our plans for DLC? How much money can we make? They are a company, obviously,
in it to make money. So it’s something I’m continually asked even now. But I
haven’t changed my stance. If you’re making a fighting game, all of the
elements necessary to enjoy it should be on the disc, or should at least be
available for free.”
|Source:
Eurogamer
After
Namco Bandai announced its involvement in the next Super Smash Bros. game, it
was unsurprising to hear that fans were curious on which, if any, new
characters from the company’s extensive IP will enter the roster. Probably none
from Tekken, if the words from Mr. Tekken himself were any indication.
“That question was one of the most frequently
asked questions we got when we announced the project,” Tekken producer
Katsuhiro Harada told NowGamer. “Especially from abroad. The fans, rather than
asking about Tales or Gundam, or some of our other franchises, the fans abroad
saw Tekken as one of the key words and took off on that.
“We’re
not really sure at this moment but when thinking of the playerbase who is
playing Smash Bros, maybe Tekken characters is something they wouldn’t want, so
I’ve been pulling back on that a bit. But I don’t know.”
|Source:
IGN
Founded
by Masahiro Sakurai in 2009 after the release of Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Project Sora has closed its doors on June
30, 2012. The studio’s one and only release was Kid Icarus: Uprising for the 3DS.
Nothing
is known of what will happen to Project Sora’s employees or Sakurai’s status
beyond his work with the next Super Smash Bros. installment.
|Source:
Andriasang
