Katsuhiro Harada can't get Yoshinori Ono to pick up the phone, Street Fighter producer loves Megan Thee Stallion and BlazBlue creator wants more
Japanese fighting game developers share their New Year's messages to fans
This year will go down as one of the most turbulent in modern history, but there was still plenty to enjoy in terms of media with more to look forward to in 2021.
Japanese publications Famitsu and 4Gamer recently released their end of year / New Year's messages from game developers including many in the fighting game scene like Katsuhiro Harada, Daisuke Ishiwatari, Toshimichi Mori, Yasuyuki Oda, Shuhei Matsumoto and others sharing their favorite things from 2020 while talking about what's coming next from their teams.
Longtime Tekken director Katsuhiro Harada claims that he's been trying to get ahold of former head of Capcom's fighting game team and friend, Yoshinori Ono, but says that he's too busy doing various things since leaving this fall to actually pick up the phone. The Bandai Namco manager jokes that he's always available on Line.
Harada also had a lot to write about for Call of Duty: Black Ops - Cold War while also stating they have new projects in the works.
"Are we working on projects or new titles for next-generation consoles? Well, we've already decided to develop various things, including completely new titles, but they will take some time and money," said Harada via Famitsu as translated by Gematsu. "It's already difficult. But this job is truly enjoyable. Every day I think what a fun job this is. It's not even a job anymore! It’s the ultimate way to live."
These new projects might not necessarily be related to fighting games, however, considering Harada is also the manager of Bandai Namco's original IP now like Elden Ring, Dark Souls, Ace Combat and the Tales series.
Street Fighter 5 Producer Shuhei Matsumoto apparently and ironically loved watching Tiger King, and one of the people he's paid attention to the most this year is rapper Megan Thee Stallion, who you probably at least know from WAP or her recent Mileena cosplay.
Matsumoto also says that the SF5 dev team has been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic in significant ways, but they're working hard and looking forward to everyone getting to try Season 5 in 2021.
SNK producer / director Yasuyuki Oda didn't have much to say about what's coming for Samurai Shodown Season 3 of King of Fighters 15, but he says that he's become addicted to watching Hawaii Five-0 and that he doesn't want it spoiled.
Guilty Gear creator Daisuke Ishiwatari says that he's keenly been watching the indie development scene and that they interest him more than huge projects while at the same time coming to realize that the amount of teams and publishers that can keep up with the AAA business continues to shrink.
Kazutoshi Sekine, Granblue Fantasy Versus' battle director, apparently was pretty impressed with Fight of Animals for its design and music, and he also acknowledges the difficulties Versus faced due to the coronavirus pandemic while confirming that there's still plenty more on the way for the fighter.
BlazBlue creator and producer Toshimichi Mori states that 2020 has been a very difficult year for him personally, but he's looking forward to moving on and hopefully do something soon in the realm of BlazBlue.
There were also a number of similar answers between the developers with many saying that Fall Guys and Ghost of Tsushima were among the most impactful games of the year while Demon Slayer was the most popular manga / anime between them.
While 2020 has proven to be a difficult year for most everyone in the world, there are still a ton of people out there working hard to make our lives more enjoyable, so here's hoping 2021 can be much better and exciting.
Image source: Katsuhiro Harada.
