Earlier this summer, Tekken director Kohei Ikeda announced his departure from Bandai Namco after 20 years at the company. Fans wondered if Ikeda would be joining illustrious Tekken fellow Katsuhiro Harada at SNK in a newly formed fighting game division. The speculation has proved to be true, as Ikeda confirmed a reunion this week. The team up comes just as SNK is reportedly experiencing hardships elsewhere, with increased revenues unable to bridge a widening, multimillion deficit.
According to Automaton Media, SNK’s revenue over the last year rose ten percent, but its money troubles rose even faster. The company is reporting a net loss of nearly $140 million, shy of doubling the sinkhole from the previous year. SNK continues to operate through large loans from their Saudi Crown parent Electronic Gaming Development Company, which has been moving its money around elsewhere to more prominent portfolios like Capcom.
The turmoil seems to be taking immediate effect. This same week, SNK dissolved SNK Entertainment, the subsidiary formed in 2016 to leverage SNK characters and series to contracted developers and licensing deals. It’s been one of the key components to the sudden boom in SNK projects in recent years, though its operations have reportedly been absorbed to other departments since 2022.
SNK is clearly reshuffling the deck. Last May, Harada announced VS Studio, a new outfit in Tokyo that will be operating under SNK. Though no games have been announced, the gathering of high profile Tekken leads is conjuring a clearer vision of what they might be up to.
【A Quick Update】
I’ve joined VS STUDIO as the next step in my journey.Working on games again with two of my former bosses feels nostalgic in many ways, while at the same time, the excitement of creating something completely new makes every day incredibly fulfilling.
I’m… pic.twitter.com/f2lwFi0dkL
— Kohei Ikeda（Nakatsu） (@nkt_dreamer) August 18, 2026
“Working on games again with two of my former bosses feels nostalgic,” posted Ikeda, “the excitement of creating something completely new makes every day incredibly fulfilling. I’m really looking forward to seeing what we can create together!”
It hasn’t tempered anxieties around the parent company, however. While disruptions in the oil market, lately the unending stand off in Hormuz, has endangered much Crown deal making in gaming, Electronic Gaming Development Company has rapidly rallied around fighting games. On top of a five percent stake in Street Fighter creators Capcom, the Mohammed bin Salman Foundation also took control of Evo, leaving players divided on participating in the continued ‘sportswashing’ of their image.
