Harada Says Tekken x Street Fighter Was 30% Done—But Don’t Hold Your Breath

Tekken x Street Fighter was real-just not real enough

This caught my attention because, like a lot of you, I’ve been holding a candle for Tekken x Street Fighter since it was announced alongside Capcom’s Street Fighter x Tekken back in 2010. At EVO, Tekken boss Katsuhiro Harada reiterated what many of us suspected: the Bandai Namco half of the crossover made meaningful progress-about 30%-before getting shelved in 2016. He now says he’d love to show that work to the public. That’s exciting, but it’s also a reality check for anyone still expecting the full game to happen.

Key takeaways

• Tekken x Street Fighter reached roughly 30% development before being paused in 2016; Harada wants to show what exists, but a full revival is unlikely.
• Don’t expect Tekken Tag Tournament 3—Harada says it’s probably not happening during his career; a tag mode in Tekken 8 or a future Tekken 9 is more realistic.
• The fighting game scene has shifted toward live-service support, rollback netcode, crossplay, and esports balance—making big crossover/tag projects riskier.
• For players, the smart bet is continued Tekken 8 support and maybe experimental modes—not a full-blown tag sequel or a resurrected crossover.

Breaking down Harada’s comments

Harada told press that the team hit a real milestone on Tekken x Street Fighter before the stop sign in 2016: “Actually, it also depends on what people want. That said, I would like to show what we had already done. It would be great if we could do that. We were at 30% of development, so fingers crossed.” That sounds less like a tease for a revival and more like a director wanting to share a behind-the-scenes time capsule—concepted characters, a working build, maybe early systems.

He also poured cold water on another long-time wishlist item: “It’s probably not for tomorrow, and therefore probably not during my career. So it’s for the next generation to decide,” he said about Tekken Tag Tournament 3. That’s a blunt way of saying TTT3 isn’t on the roadmap. The door he leaves open is smaller but more feasible: a tag mode tucked into Tekken 8 or a hypothetical Tekken 9.

On succession and Tekken’s longevity, Harada was candid: “There are two kinds of games: those that focus on the story and universe, and those that prioritize gameplay and mechanics… For Tekken, I think it’s the second option… Over the last 30 years, the gameplay has been polished and everything is in place, so it’s much easier to continue with someone else.” Translation: the blueprint is strong enough to outlast any one person—comforting for fans even if you’re wary of the franchise losing its soul.

Why crossovers and tag games are harder to greenlight in 2025

If you’ve watched the genre evolve since Street Fighter x Tekken launched in 2012, you know the game has changed. Modern fighting games live or die on sustained support: seasonal DLC, constant balance passes, robust netcode, crossplay, and an esports pipeline. Tekken 8, Street Fighter 6, and Guilty Gear Strive have set that bar. A crossover like Tekken x Street Fighter adds huge licensing and creative overhead on top of all that, plus double the stakeholder headaches any time you touch a character’s frame data.

Tag games multiply the problem. Every move, combo route, wall interaction, and now Tekken 8’s Heat system would need to be rethought for two-character teams. Anyone who played Tekken Tag Tournament 2 remembers how delightfully chaotic—and balance-taxing—that meta can be. Building that on Unreal Engine 5 with Tekken 8’s visual fidelity, then maintaining it for years, is a massive commitment. In a world where communities get fragmented by modes and rulesets, publishers are more cautious about splitting their player base.

There’s also the cold reality of tech debt. If Tekken x Street Fighter hit 30% by 2016, that content was likely built around early Tekken 7-era tools (Unreal Engine 4, older pipelines). Porting that work to today’s Tekken 8 foundation isn’t a drop-in; it’s archaeology. Harada’s “we’d like to show it” probably means a documentary-style reveal, a museum mode, or a limited demo—not a stealth launch.

What this means for Tekken 8 (and maybe 9)

Short term, expect the team to keep doing what’s been working: new characters, balance patches, and event modes. Tekken 8’s Heat system and aggressive offense identity are clearly the pillars Bandai Namco wants to keep polishing. A tag mode could arrive as a separate, unranked ruleset—think the way Tekken Ball or special events live alongside the main ladder—without blowing up the competitive meta.

If they do try tag, the smart play is a sandbox approach: limited roster support at first, Heat-specific tag routes, toned-down wall carry to avoid TODs, and strict separation from the ranked environment. That would give the community a taste without forcing the esports ecosystem to relearn everything. As for Tekken 9, it’s too early to speculate—but the subtext in Harada’s comments is that the mainline series will continue to evolve around its core 3D fundamentals, not chase a full tag identity.

And Tekken x Street Fighter? I’d love to see the prototypes, animations, and character experiments the team cooked up—if nothing else, to close the loop on one of fighting games’ great “what ifs.” Just remember the legal layer: showing Capcom characters in a Bandai build requires mutual sign-off. If we do get a peek, expect something curated.

TL;DR

Harada says Tekken x Street Fighter hit 30% before being shelved in 2016 and he wants to show that work. Tekken Tag Tournament 3 is almost certainly off the table, but a tag mode inside Tekken 8 or a future sequel could happen. For players, the real action remains in Tekken 8’s ongoing support—not in wishful thinking about a crossover that time and tech have passed by.