Kohei Ikeda Joins SNK's VS Studio After Leaving Bandai Namco
Kohei Ikeda, the game director known for Tekken 7 and Tekken 8, announced on August 18 that he has joined VS Studio SNK. Ikeda, also known by the nickname Nakatsu, left Bandai Namco Studios in June after 20 years at the company. He began his career at Enterbrain before moving to Bandai Namco, where he worked on numerous titles, especially the Tekken series, serving as game director and development producer for Tekken 8. VS Studio SNK is a development studio established in May with support from SNK. Its CEO is Katsuhiro Harada, who worked on the Tekken series with Ikeda and left Bandai Namco Studios in 2025. Yuichi Yonemori, another Tekken series veteran, is also part of the studio as CCO. In an X post, Ikeda said working on game development again with his two former bosses feels nostalgic and full of excitement from creating something new, and that he is very fulfilled. The game currently in development at VS Studio SNK has not been announced yet.