Tekken Director Asks Fans to Stop Sending Him Concepts for New Fighters

The rise of social media has given fans much greater access to the people that develop video games. On one hand, that can be a very good thing, as it gives people a greater depth of knowledge about how games are made. On the other hand, it can lead to a number of headaches. In a recent post on X/Twitter, Tekken game director and chief producer Katsuhiro Harada discussed the frustrations and issues that can arise when fans send concepts to him or Bandai Namco unprompted. When fleshed out ideas are shared with the team, the developers might have to avoid anything close to a submitted concept, for fear of potential legal issues. 

“Basically, the more specific and detailed the idea is, the less likely we are to adopt it, and the further away from it we are from being influenced by it,” Harada writes. “Why? Because a certain percentage of people will file a lawsuit in the form of ‘you used my proposal without permission’ or ‘you stole my proposal’ or ‘that was my proposal.’”

Harada went on to note that while Bandai Namco has done fan campaigns through magazines or other promotions, a lot of gaming companies have moved away from this practice. While publishers require the signing of consent forms, that hasn’t stopped some people from filing lawsuits after the fact. Harada notes that “it’s not a question of whether we can win the lawsuit or not, but the fact that these kinds of troubles arise is a burden for us.” 

Of course, this problem is not just limited to the video game industry. In 2020, My Hero Academia animation studio Bones, Inc. was similarly forced to ask fans to stop sending them story proposals for the anime series, “to avoid any unfortunate disputes.” From story ideas to original creations, it seems a lot of people just don’t realize how problematic this can be. Hopefully Harada’s post gets through to Tekken fans, and helps them to understand exactly why this can be a problem. In some extreme cases, it can even force developers to move away from an idea they were actively pursuing, which is probably the opposite of what those fans were hoping for in the first place. 

Have you ever submitted an idea to a video game developer or publisher? Do you understand why this can be frustrating for creators? Share your thoughts with me directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp, on Bluesky at @Marcdachamp, or on Instagram at @Dachampgaming!