Bandai Namco and Tekken series veteran Katsuhiro Harada has been appointed as CEO of a new SNK studio.
As per a press release sent along on May 12, the subsidiary—VS Studio SNK—was established on May 1, and is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. SNK is set to support the launch of the new studio and plans to make it a consolidated subsidiary.
“The new studio and SNK will collaborate on game software development to further strengthen their combined creative capabilities,” reads the announcement.
“Having been involved in game development for many years, I’ve constantly considered how I want to spend my time as a developer and what kind of environment allows developers to perform at their best,” Harada wrote as part of the announcement. His previous tenure at Bandai Namco lasted from 1994 to 2025.
He continued: “VS Studio is one answer to that question. By bringing together technology and knowledge, and working with passionate colleagues, we aim to deliver the best gaming experiences to users worldwide. VS Studio aspires to be a studio that continues to take on such challenges, and we are looking for new team members who share our vision.”
SNK Developer Yasuyuki Oda commented: “We’ve long discussed the hypothetical scenario of working together, and now that dream has become a reality. To be honest, nothing has been decided yet, but I have no doubt that things will become even more exciting than ever before.”
Harada announced his departure from Bandai Namco in December of last year after around three decades.
As for SNK, the company has been effectively under the ownership of the Saudi government for four years now. The Saudi Arabia-based firm Electronic Gaming Development Company (EGDC) sustained an interest in SNK over time. In late 2020, it secured a 28.8 percent stake. This was massively increased in 2022, increasing the number to 96.18 percent. Since then, EDGC has been the parent company of SNK, owning a 100 percent stake in the developer.
In March of this year, EGDC also acquired a five percent stake in Capcom. This makes it just over ten percent of the company’s shares for the region, after Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF) purchased stakes of more than five percent in Capcom, as well as Nexon.
The investment fund is chaired by Saudi Arabia’s de-factor ruler and crown prince, Mohammed bin Salman—who, as noted by The BBC, was linked to the murder of Washington Post journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Advocacy groups such as Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch have strongly criticized Saudi Arabia’s human rights record under the leadership of bin Salman.
As for other SNK-related news, the company opened a new development studio in Singapore in 2024 with the goal of expanding its global reach. Later on the same year, the developer established KOF Studio to “carry on the storied legacy” of its fighting game franchises.