Ryan Thompson

He/him. Ludomusicology at @michiganstateu. | [email protected]

[Ryan Thompson @BardicKnowledge]

The humanities' value relative to STEM fields is that while they save the Earth, we shape it into a home worth saving in the first place.

[Ryan Thompson @BardicKnowledge]

My 2026 resolution is to delete Twitter off my phone. It’s been a good run - find me on Bluesky or Twitch under the same alias or search my name and university to find my professional email address otherwise.

I wish all of you well!

[Ryan Thompson @BardicKnowledge]

@Cromwelp The two GBA Golden Sun games are incredible. Glad you’re enjoying the game thus far!

[Ryan Thompson @BardicKnowledge]

@ChronoKatie @GenePark Katie it is so good, Gene is spot on

[MegaRockEXE @megarock_exe]

Focus, M!

[Ryan Thompson @BardicKnowledge]

@angel_0f_deathx Same to you — good work and happy holidays!

[Ryan Thompson @BardicKnowledge]

Gonna need @AnnieAgar to walk me through the end of that game…

[Ryan Thompson @BardicKnowledge]

@JoeZieja It's outrageously good. The post-credits plot is worth doing also, and if you film reaction content at all there's a moment that would be worth it...

[Ryan Thompson @BardicKnowledge]

@NVIDIAGeForce This GeForce Season, I would like a holiday upgrade to keep pace with my students, and to continue to share the new year's best games with my streaming community.

[Ryan Thompson @BardicKnowledge]

@PetreRaleigh For what it’s worth, I am a game studies professor with as much playing experience as anyone and I teach content using Sarkeesian’s video series every term. There’s a lot of good material in there — popularizing “damselling” alone rules.

[Ryan Thompson @BardicKnowledge]

@Harada_TEKKEN Congratulations, Harada-san. Thank you for all your work in this medium, which continues to inspire future generations of players and developers. I wish you all the best in your next adventures, and hope you continue to write about your endeavors.

[Katsuhiro Harada @Harada_TEKKEN]

I’d like to share that I’ll be leaving Bandai Namco at the end of 2025.
With the TEKKEN series reaching its 30th anniversary—an important milestone for a project I’ve devoted much of my life to—I felt this was the most fitting moment to bring one chapter to a close.

My roots lie in the days when I supported small local tournaments in Japanese arcades and in small halls and community centers overseas.
I still remember carrying arcade cabinets by myself, encouraging people to “Please try TEKKEN,” and directly facing the players right in front of me.
The conversations and atmosphere we shared in those places became the core of who I am as a developer and game creator.

Even as the times changed, those experiences have remained at the center of my identity.
And even after the tournament scene grew much larger, many of you continued to treat me like an old friend—challenging me at venues, inviting me out for drinks at bars.
Those memories are also deeply precious to me.
In recent years, I experienced the loss of several close friends in my personal life, and in my professional life I witnessed the retirement or passing of many senior colleagues whom I deeply respect.
Those accumulated events made me reflect on the “time I have left as a creator.”
During that period, I sought advice from Ken Kutaragi—whom I respect as though he were another father—and received invaluable encouragement and guidance.
His words quietly supported me in making this decision.

Over the past four to five years, I’ve gradually handed over all of my responsibilities, as well as the stories and worldbuilding I oversaw, to the team, bringing me to the present day.
Looking back, I was fortunate to work on an extraordinary variety of projects—VR titles (such as Summer Lesson), Pokkén Tournament, the SoulCalibur series, and many others, both inside and outside the company.
Each project was full of new discoveries and learning, and every one of them became an irreplaceable experience for me.
To everyone who has supported me, to communities around the world, and to all the colleagues who have walked alongside me for so many years, I offer my deepest gratitude.
I’ll share more about my next steps at a later date.
Thank you very much for everything.

【Postscript】
Although I will be leaving the company at the end of 2025, Bandai Namco has asked me to appear at the TWT Finals at the end of January 2026, so I expect to attend as a guest.

For 30 years I kept saying, “I’ll do it someday,” and never once performed as a DJ at a tournament event.
So instead, I will be releasing—for the first and last time—a 60-minute TEKKEN DJ-style nonstop mix (DJ mix), personally edited by myself, together with this announcement.
Listening to it brings back many memories.
Thank you again, sincerely, for all these years.

‘TEKKEN: A 30-Year Journey – Harada’s Final Mix’ by Katsuhiro Harada 1 is on #SoundCloud https://t.co/PUFOWt3R6M

December 8, 2025 - The Final Day of TEKKEN’s 30th Anniversary -
Katsuhiro Harada

[日本語版 (Japanese version)]
このたび、2025年末をもちまして、私はバンダイナムコを退職することにいたしました。
長く携わってきた『鉄拳』シリーズが30周年という大きな節目を迎え、ひとつの区切りとして最もふさわしい時期であると考えたためです。

私の原点は、日本のゲームセンターや、海外コミュニティの小さな講堂やコミュニティセンターで、まだ小規模なトーナメントをサポートしていた時代にあります。
アーケード筐体を自ら運び込み、「鉄拳もぜひ遊んでみてほしい」と声をかけながら、目の前の参加者と向き合った日々。
あの場で交わした言葉や空気が、私という開発者の核���形作りました。
時代が変化しても、あの経験が自分の中心にあります。
そしてトーナメントシーンが大きく成長した後も、皆さんは旧知の友人のように私に声をかけ、会場で対戦したり、バーで『一緒に飲もう』と誘ってくれました。
それらもまた、大切な思い出です。

ここ数年間、私生活においては友人達との死別があり、仕事においては、私が尊敬する多くの先輩方の引退や逝去に触れてきました。
そうした出来事の積み重ねが、私に『開発者として残された時間』について考える契機を与えました。
その過程で、私がもう一人の父親のように敬愛する久夛良木健さんにも相談し、貴重な助言と励ましのお言葉をいただきました。
この言葉もまた、今回の決断を静かに後押しするものとなりました。

そして、この4〜5年をかけて私の担って���たすべての業務やストーリーや世界観、そして責務をチームに段階的に引き継ぎ、今日に至ります。
振り返れば、VR作品（サマーレッスンなど）や『ポッ拳』、ソウルキャリバーシリーズをはじめ、自社他社問わず数多くのプロジェクトに携わる機会に恵まれました。
いずれのプロジェクトも新しい発見と学びに満ち、かけがえのない経験となりました。

これまで支えてくださった皆様、世界中のコミュニティの皆様、そして長年ともに歩んできた仲間たちに深く感謝申し上げます。
次の歩みについては、改めて皆様にお伝えいたします。
これからも、どうぞよろしくお願いいたします。

+あとがき
2025年末をもって退職致しますが、2026年1月末のTWT FINALには顔を出してほしいと会社からお願いされていることもあり、FINALにはゲストとして顔を出すと思います。
これまで30年間『いつかやるよ』と言い続けてやってこなかったトーナメントイベントでのDJですが、その代わりとして“最初で最後のDJ風60分ノンストップ鉄拳ミックス（私による初編集DJ mix）”も、今回のポストに合わせて公開します。

‘TEKKEN: A 30-Year Journey – Harada’s Final Mix’ by Katsuhiro Harada 1 is on #SoundCloud https://t.co/PUFOWt3R6M

様々な思い出が蘇ります。改めて皆さんありがとうございました。

2025年12月8日 - 鉄拳30周年最終日 -
Katsuhiro Harada

[Rare Ltd. @RareLtd]

Put our fanciest hat on just so we could tip it to this. Incredible work!

[Justin Elze @HackingLZ]

For those going home to visit family this weekend:

• Samsung calls it Auto Motion Plus
• LG calls it TruMotion
• Sony calls it Motionflow
• Roku calls it Action Smoothing
• Google TV calls it Motion Enhancement
• Vizio calls it Smooth Motion Effect.

[Ryan Thompson @BardicKnowledge]

@thirstyangel_x hope you are safe and not dealing with an ongoing situation re: safety?! And similarly hoping you have some local support on the ground as needed.

[Ryan Thompson @BardicKnowledge]

@angel_0f_deathx I really dislike either that I am online enough to understand this and/or this is where national politics is while acknowledging that this joke is excellent

[Ryan Thompson @BardicKnowledge]

@spaceghost Got out of the house long enough to take in the last of fall smells (positive) before the second snow, and to walk grocery store a bit! Counting that as a win for the first Saturday I haven't been travelling in a few weeks now.

[Ryan Thompson @BardicKnowledge]

@ChronoKatie Thought of you briefly as this crossed my feed — I have assigned my games literacy course to play Chrono Trigger for this Thursday

[Ryan Thompson @BardicKnowledge]

@ChronoKatie Right? Love this. I really hope Mamdani wins and by a humongous margin - his videos have been a bright spot in a mostly awful few months.

[Ryan Thompson @BardicKnowledge]

@sairaspooks Saira when you deny him the familial relationship he craves with his creator you perpetuate the same hate placed on him by the doctor; embrace monsters instead lol

[Ryan Thompson @BardicKnowledge]

@GenePark Julianne Grasso (Florida State) just published an article in the new issue of the Journal of Sound and Music in Games about how our experience of play shifts when we know the rhythm of play well; there is no other franchise I think about this more than DQ.