Namco boss Katsuhiro Harada responds to Tekken fans spamming for return of original voice actors

Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada lost his patience with the fans who kept demanding for the return of original voice actors in Tekken Tag Tournament 2 that is slated for release in September later this year.

After having enough of the complaining and whining, the Namco Bandai Games boss retaliated with a lengthy and seemingly angry tweet to explain why their demands to bring back voice acting from the previous titles in the franchise cannot be met.

He began by asking the complaining fans to quit complaining and taking a look at the situation more objectively and maturely as that might help them to comprehend the reason behind dropping the previous voice actors from the series.

“You are assuming the voice actors themselves can reproduce the voice the recorded 16 years ago?” Harada contended. “Many voice actors decline work because their voice has changed since the original role, some have even retired. Sometimes they won’t accept, even if we ask.”

He went on to explain that the software and internal circuitry in current-generation consoles significantly differ from that of previous consoles such as PlayStation One and therefore play back sound quite differently.

Harada pointed out the creators had used the sound of Brian’s laugh recorded 16 years ago for Tekken 3 in the games that followed. The same data was used on the PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 and yet many fans felt that the voice was not the same as the original.

Harada further went on to explain that using a sound recorded years ago and reproducing it for the newer titles in the series is not exactly a good idea as the sounds begins to sound heavily compressed with a bit of noise in it.

“The Tekken series has continued for 17 years. The development environment, as well as the environment in which you all play games, has changed,” conceded Harada. “There are so many characters, and we can’t keep using the same voice actors every time, for a variety of reasons.”

The Namco Bandai Games boss revealed that despite doing the voice work of Marshal and Forest Law until Tekken 5, he felt it right to step aside and let new voice actors take over as they are probably capable of doing a much better job than him now.

Harada said that he will continue to make a sincere effort of complying with the requests made by fans that have constructive comments and suggestions to offer while ignoring whiners and complainers.

The Tekken producer conceded that he will be revealing additional Tekken Tag Tournament 2 characters in the near future.

The latest instalment in the Tekken franchise had hit the Japanese arcades in September last year and will be coming out on the Sony and Microsoft current-generation consoles this September.