Tekken 6 producer on inspiration, girlfriends and a suicidal fan

Behind the development of every video game is a story waiting to be told – one that may not be directly related to the game itself but is worth telling, anyway. Tekken 6 producer Katsuhiro Harada and the rest of the development team at Namco Bandai have a few of their own, as you’ll read about in the full article awaiting curious readers after the jump.

Developing the latest installment of a famous fighting game franchise like Tekken 6 can be an interesting experience. Just ask producer Katsuhiro Harada, who shared a little bit about the story behind Tekken 6 and the lives of the Namco Bandai team members who are working on the game during the 2008 Taipei Game Show.

For example, Harada mentioned that Sega‘s Virtua Fighter series was the inspiration behind the first Tekken game. He also said that recurring characters in the series are largely due to fan requests. Namco Bandai reportedly honors fan preferences, as Harada even pointed out that one girl threatened to commit suicide when she heard news about her favorite character being dropped from the game.

Ever wonder just how dedicated the members of the Tekken 6 development team are to making the game as good as it can possibly be? Wonder no more. Harada put it this way: fifteen of the current developers have lost their girlfriends because of the attention they’ve given to the game. Fortunately (and ironically), these same people have formed good friendships with developers of rival fighting games. Birds of the same feather and all that, we suppose.