Tekken series producer Katsuhiro Harada recently wrote a post on Facebook where he posed a question to Tekken fans: whether or not they would like to see an Arab character (concept design above) in Tekken 7.
“To be honest, we did have an idea of an Arab fighter since 2008, but since most of the development team members are Japanese and do not know much about the Middle Eastern culture or clothes, we were not able to fully design it back then,” Harada wrote.
“But in recent years I (Harada) have been visiting places such as Dubai and Saudi Arabia, and many of the development staff members have been learning about Middle Eastern culture and designs. From there we came up with this character’s outfit design.”
Harada encourages Tekken fans—particularly those in the Middle East—to provide feedback on this potential new character. His place on the roster has not been cemented yet, and Harada says that there’s a chance he will be considerably changed or not included at all, depending on how feedback pans out.
True to his word, in the days following his Facebook post, Harada has been interacting with fans via his Twitter feed, taking feedback from them and even providing his own insights into the new character’s design.
“Whew..The open discussion is not easy way,” Harada tweeted on August 9th in English. “But It is glad Because We can get many people’s opinion & We can advance game development safely.”
Harada has said that he will turn to the Tekken community for feedback regarding other new characters in Tekken 7 in the future as well. These characters have not been revealed yet.
