Former BANNAM's Katsuhiro Harada and others to establish a new studio "VS Studio" with SNK! Passion and Ambition: Interview Reveals Glimpse of "Happiness for All Involved

Harada: The official name is "VS Studio SNK" (also known as VS Studio). The word "VS" has many meanings, and I'm sure everyone thinks of Versus, and of course that's fine, but for example, my roots and Yonemori's roots are in the former Namco's "VS Development Department". But for example, my roots and Yonemori's roots were in the former Namco's "VS Development Department. In the 90s, VS Development Department was an abbreviation for Video Game Software Development Department. The titles that came out of that department were ones that involved punching, cutting, and drumming, and they were also the lineage of the department that made shooting games in the good old days. We named it "VS" because of that traditional department, or "Vanguard Spirits" or "Visual Studio" from a developer's point of view. The name " VS Studio " has a variety of good meanings.

Harada: If you ask if we are a division of SNK, we are not. I can't tell you the percentage of investment, but we are a subsidiary of SNK while maintaining our independence, and we are a member of the foundation group that backs SNK. That's how it feels.

Harada: When I was thinking about what to do after quitting my previous job, I was approached by various companies and individuals. I had always been friends with Mr. Oda, partly because we are of the same generation, and we had a vague idea that it would be interesting to do something together in the future. I received various offers, and SNK's investor shared his vision with me, and many aspects of it matched my own.

Harada: Before I entered the game industry, when I was a college student, the NEOGEO was booming! I personally enjoyed many IPs and titles. I was personally a fan of many IPs and titles, and even after I entered the industry, I still had a strong impression of the NEOGEO. I also collaborated with them at my previous job, and as a fan, I felt the same way as everyone else who loves SNK (laughs).

Harada: Thanks to SNK's long history, I think that the way you look at SNK is completely different depending on the age you cut out. Now, for various reasons, even though they are a long-established game maker, they seem to be like a second start-up. That is one of the reasons I wanted to work with you. I was convinced that the game business is the main axis of the company, not just now, not just 4 or 5 years from now, but completely, and that they are looking very far into the future! I feel the enthusiasm of the company.

Harada: I think that SNK and I have good chemistry. I've been talking with Oda-san about this, and we've come to realize that although we seem to have created similar genres, our knowledge is different. I think that exchanging my knowledge and experience with SNK will create synergy, and I believe that Mr. Oda, as well as myself, have high expectations for this project.

Harada: It is true that I personally like many of SNK's IPs, but I am not at the stage where I can talk specifically about creating something with them or about how we can get involved. I am sure I will be able to talk about it at some point, but I think I can do something interesting with it.

Harada: What do you think?

Mr. Oda: Would you do it? (laughs)

Harada: Personally, I want to do this or that, but I can't really say what I want to do because it's SNK's work.... I'm not really involved in anything specific at the moment, but we have been chatting about it for a long time (laughs).

Oda: Harada-san has a really great career, so the expectations are great, and I'm sure many requests are coming from various sources. We can't listen to everything, so I hope SNK can support him in this area.

Oda: If this were the 90's, we would have been able to easily take on various projects, but in this era, it takes 4 to 5 years to develop a single title, so it's not easy to say that.

Harada: Actually, the first fighting game that featured an IP that was not part of our company or group, and that was not a fighting game, was a title that I worked on in the 90s. It's becoming commonplace now, but I was the one who introduced characters from other companies that I had nothing to do with. I felt a sense of relief that other fighting game titles and SNK's FATAL FURY COTW had finally started doing this. Some users may have a psychological resistance to this, but as they get used to it, I have a feeling that it will change into a sense of excitement, like, "What's next?

Harada: In my previous job, I was carrying a lot of things on my shoulders, so I felt like I was leading the team! But in reality, I was supported by so many people. Now that I am on my own, I can see that objectively, and I don't think it is just me. I don't have any theories or rules for my past successes, but I think I have a treasure of intuition that I would like to share with others. On the other hand, I would like to hear more stories from Mr. Oda as well. If anything, I am more curious and excited than know-how and knowledge. I think this feeling I am feeling at my age is incredibly important and significant.

Oda: It sounds ostentatious to call it an investment, but it depends on the scale and the case. I think SNK's cooperation in the establishment of VS Studio is a special case. However, there are many projects in progress within SNK alone, and we are cooperating with many studios on each project. I would like to continue to work on projects in this way in the future.

Harada: If you look at my Wikipedia page, you will see that I have been involved in various genres of games, including VR. However, I believe that there are certain things that I am not good at, and there are certain things that the market and SNK expect from me. In that sense, I think that I can't leave out elements such asfighting against other people andaction games, but I also have a strong desire to continue pursuing these things myself. I don't want to limit myself to one genre, but I would like to make "fighting games.

Harada: Of course, I strongly want young creators to join me in making games. But on the other hand, I also think that developers in the 45+ age group , or "seniors," are a treasure. I would like to gather them together again, including those who will retire this year or next, and create something good by combining the power of great veterans with young people. This is my vision.

Harada: It will be located on a different floor in the same building as SNK. It's still very new, but it's still in progress, and it's large enough to do what I want to do. My position is that of CEO, but I would like to be more involved in the creative side of things. I think I will be more involved in game development than I have been in the past 10 years, going back to the basics of creativity and development.

Harada: Yonemori joined my department in 1998 as a junior staff member. He was so impressed with the game he was making during the newcomer training that I was determined to have him on the team! He worked for me for about 20 years, and then he worked for another company for a while, but he resigned because of this incident, and we are now working together. I am the president of the studio and he is the CCO (Chief Creative Officer).

Yonemori: Just as you just explained (laughs). In the case of Tekken, I was the head of the development side until "Tekken 7" for commercial use, and Mr. Harada was in charge of the overall management.

Mr. Harada: I am the second name on the staff roll of "Tekken 7" after myself.

Mr. Harada: That's exactly right. I used to say that a lot.

Mr. Harada: Yes, that's right. Since I announced that I would be leaving my previous position, I have been approached by everyone, regardless of seniority or juniority, so I am hoping to gather a group of passionate people.

Harada: When I announced my resignation, I thought I would receive a lot of flak and criticism, but my fans thanked me so much that I thought it would be beautiful if I ended my life like this. To be honest, I was surprised that they would say such a thing. I have actually had a peaceful time, making time for my family and so on.

However, thankfully, I have received many offers from companies and individuals, and as "VS Studio" is taking shape, I feel that my passion and curiosity are growing. I am having a lot of fun as things are progressing little by little every day. To be honest, I was very conscious of how much time I had left in my life, but now I just want to live as long as I can with everyone else (laughs).

Mr. Harada: Yes! (laugh) Many people, especially those from overseas, are very outspoken, and in fact, although it was not a countermeasure against flames, when I announced my resignation, I had a team of about six people working on 24-hour surveillance. We had the AI pick up all the comments on social networking sites and reactions to articles, and we were keeping complete statistics, but thanks to everyone sending thank you comments at once, the alert was quickly lifted! It was a process like that. I even wondered if I could retire from what I had been doing for 31 years because of such gratifying comments, but it was very encouraging and I wanted to return the favor to you all.

Harada: It's not that I wanted to reset my career. However, I had already established a certain position and sense of responsibility as a member of society and what was expected of me through my accumulated work. So, even if I wanted to start all over again at the age of 50, that would not normally work out. Instead of resting on my laurels, I decided to put my achievements to the side and do it while I was still physically and mentally capable. The average life expectancy of a Japanese male is about 81 years, and if you think about it, he will not live twice as long as he does now. And if you look at healthy life expectancy, it is even shorter. I have come to this point in my life to realize what I wanted to do at the end of my life. I also want to create an environment where those who follow in my footsteps can work for a long time.

Harada: Actually, as you can see from my X, there is not so much spontaneous one-way communication from me, but mostly in response to questions from users. I don't think it's a good idea to just look at reports and data to get a sense of the temperature of the general public in the community and the market. I don' t think it 's right for me to make judgments based solely on the numbers of response and buzz. Of course, the opinions of the majority are important, but sometimes the opinions of the minority also touch my heart. Sometimes, the minority's opinions give me hints for game production, so I am stimulated by their harsh words, but I also feel like, "If that's the case, I'll do a little better. I don't know if it is as often as before, but I would like to keep in touch with the community in any way I can.

Harada: I can only guess at the reaction of the general public! (laugh). Actually, the underlying theme is that we would like to ask questions to veterans in the industry who have not yet lost their passion, and to people who would like to take manufacturing seriously once more. I hope to reach such people and get their reactions, and I would be happy if the number of people who can work together with me increases.

Harada: I have never wavered in my desire to make games and be involved in games. However, in general, as you grow roots in the same organization, there are more and more things that are required of you, regardless of your own will. When I consider the time remaining in my life, I wanted to put down my current baggage and take on the challenge of choosing new baggage on my own and seeing how far I could go with it.

Mr. Harada: My thinking on this is a little different from others. I have been talking with Mr. Oda about collaboration with the development team, saying "If I joined Mr. Oda's team, we might be able to do something like this," in a chat that has nothing to do with this case. So it is a little different from the independence of other people, in that it exists with the cooperation of SNK and its backers. I don't want to run a studio as a CEO, so I settled on the current form as an environment in which I can concentrate on development while receiving as much help as possible.

Harada: I'm quite fond of statistics, but when I thought that the average life expectancy of a Japanese male is a little over 80 years, I was horrified to realize that I wouldn't live another half of my life when I was over 40 years old (laughs). (Laughs) And I thought to myself, "I don't have another 20 years of health left..." It sounds trivial, but I seriously thought about it.

Harada: Yes, I do. If you ask me if today is the same 10 years from now as I thought it would be 10 years ago, everyone is different, isn't he? In the game industry, it is really like that. Is this...? I started to think, "This is...?" Rather than being panicked by that, I thought that waiting until retirement to do what I wanted to do was not the right thing to do. That thought was a big part of me.

Harada: This is a bit interesting, and I used to think so too. However, I think it's only a matter of experience, or perhaps the virtue of age, but I don't think it's enough to just make what you want to make. Game development involves many different people. I want the people who work with me to make the game to be happy, the people who play the game to be happy, and the people who make money from the game and the shareholders to be happy as well. How to balance this is part of the fun of making a product. I am sure that I would not have been able to do this when I was in my 20s, but now I am starting to do it with the support of the fact that I think I can see that part of it properly.

Harada: I can't say too much because that would reveal the amount of money we are working on....

Mr. Oda: About 10 movies would be fine. (laughs)

Mr. Harada: Oh, that's new (laughs). Our company philosophy is "Beyond tradition, crafted to perfection. In short, let's make as good a product as possible. Nowadays, there are some indie titles that are very popular and win big awards. When I see this, I feel that there is no longer any distinction between AAA and indies. I think we live in an age where people can tell how much the creators really like and are serious about their work, and that is where I want to compete.

Harada: It's difficult to say. The three of us started game development in earnest in the 1990s. The 1990s was a very interesting time, and I think it was a time of purity, when if you made a good game, it would sell. (Today, worldwide sales of games are not only determined by the quality of the game, but also by how well the game is delivered, such as marketing and promotion. However, there is no doubt that a product must have a certain core to sell. I am currently in the process of reconstructing the question of how to start making products from scratch in this age of networks, while sharing wisdom with others. I have not been able to create this game by myself, so I hope to work together with SNK to find a way to create it.

Harada: As was the case with me and my colleagues, our past knowledge and experience are important as a prerequisite. On the other hand, this industry moves very quickly, so if you are stuck in your past successful experiences, you will not be able to adapt to new technologies and learn. Since development is originally about technology, I would like to update my sense of values and learn new things while keeping my past experience as a foundation. I would like to reevaluate what users are looking for in order to create new products. That is why we are creating a new environment.

Harada: e-sports is not something that was systematically created by the game industry. I believe that game developers have created titles that have attracted fans, and these fans have spontaneously created a community that has grown larger and larger through small tournaments around the world, and this trend has grown into e-sports. The scale of e-sports has grown to a scale that would have been unimaginable 20 years ago, which is why there are so many opportunities, and I myself look at e-sports today with a feeling of " Wow, we've come this far. On the other hand, interestingly, there are also many challenges, and these are the responsibility of the manufacturers, not the community. For example, how to support the community is not only a financial issue. I think it is an issue for the future how we can approach the community side, and I would like to build a cooperative relationship with everyone, no matter what kind of game we make. From my point of view, e-sports seems to be the result of a growing community rather than an industry.

Oda: Of course I have high expectations for the specific titles that will be created, but I also think that the relationship with SNK during the creation process will be very interesting. Personally, that is what I am looking forward to the most. Even though we are basically different companies, I think we will have a very close relationship.

Mr. Harada: We have talked about keeping things close. To be honest, Mr. Oda is not a board member of our company, but even putting that aside, we are trying to maintain a relationship that will be a good stimulus for both of us.

Mr. Oda: We also have people who have transferred from BANDAI NAMCO. I'm thinking of having them squeeze those people a little (laughs).

Mr. Harada: I'm sure they wouldn't like that! I just came to a new place, so why is this guy coming? (laughs) Some people are happy about it, though (laughs).

Yonemori: It's not every day that I get a chance to freely take on challenges in a brand new studio, so I'm looking forward to enjoying this situation and developing games. Please look forward to it!

Mr. Harada: I'm sure you'll be angry at me for making such an announcement when I can't give you a specific title! I'm sure you'll be angry with me, but I just wanted to say that I'm planning to do something interesting. I'm very grateful that SNK has absorbed as much risk and anxiety as possible in VS Studio, while leaving me with the discretion to do what I want to do. I know that this is very convenient for me, but since I was given such a good environment, I want to show the users, SNK fans, and employees that we can make a solid contribution, and in the end, I want to repay them in full. I don't think we will be able to do this again for a while, but I hope we can make an announcement when everyone has forgotten about it.