SNK Corporation, the company behind franchises such as Fatal Fury, The King of Fighters, and Metal Slug, has announced a new game development subsidiary called VS Studio helmed by former Bandai Namco veteran Katsuhiro Harada. The news comes six months after Harada departed Bandai last December after serving as the longtime director and producer of the Tekken franchise.
Harada will serve as Representative Director/CEO of VS Studio. The veteran fighting game director explains in a press release that the philosophy behind the Tokyo-based VS Studio is “Beyond tradition, crafted to perfection.” Harada describes VS Studio as a “free, open, and spacious environment” to “generate new ideas and create memorable games,” and that they are recruiting talent. The studio’s website is set to launch in June.
Here is Harada’s full statement:
“We are pleased to announce the launch of our new game development studio, “VS Studio.” VS Studio’s philosophy is “Beyond tradition, crafted to perfection.”
We will combine technology, sensibility, and world-class expertise to pursue the ultimate.
From a free, open, and spacious environment, we will generate new ideas and create memorable games.
We established this studio to bring this vision to life.
The “VS” in VS Studio holds various meanings. It represents our roots in “Video game Soft (VS Development Division),” the spirit of “Versus” challenging tradition, and many other meanings symbolizing innovation and challenge, such as “Visionary Standard,” “Volition Shift,” and “Vanguard Spirit.”
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. 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.
Please look forward to the future of VS Studio.
We’ll likely have quite a long wait before we learn about VS Studio’s first project, but it will be interesting to see if Harada gets right back on the fighting game saddle or leads a completely different type of game.
