Bandai Namco, the publisher of the crossover fighting game Tekken X Street Fighter, has disclosed that the title is not in active development anymore.
The news comes straight from the horse's mouth – Katsuhiro Harada, the producer of the Tekken series, who spilled the beans to GameSpot on April 22.
When quizzed about the game's release, Harada revealed that Tekken X Street Fighter is "on hold for the moment."
Interestingly, while Harada has confirmed that the title's release has been put on hold, he did not divulge how long this status would last.
If you're wondering what the driving force behind Bandai Namco's decision was, Harada explained that the just-released Street Fighter V and Tekken 7 were the reasons.
"We try to keep the core community in mind as well as the wider audience that wants to play these games. Currently the situation with fighting games is ... you have Street Fighter V ... and a large crowd out there waiting [for] Tekken 7. We don't want to split these communities," said Harada.
Harada also hinted that releasing Tekken X Street Fighter could hamper the audiences of both franchises. As a result, a good time window for releasing Tekken X Street Fighter was becoming a touch call. The best resolution to this problem – put the game on hold.
The delay in Tekken X Street Fighter's release has left gamer's wondering if the title will ever see the light of day. In July 2010, the game was first announced at the San Diego Comic-Con, alongside the Capcom-developer project Street Fighter X Tekken. While the latter hit several platforms in 2012, there was no sign of the Tekken X Street Fighter, which was Bandai Namco's baby.
The publisher did not disclose too many details pertaining to the game, which led many wondering if the game was still under development. Harada reassured in July 2013 that the game had not been canceled and the publisher had not forgotten about the game. He also revealed that the game's foundation was in place.
"It might seem like we haven't started on it at all, but the character lineup has been decided upon since a very long time ago. And we've already finished the polygon models, moves, and systems," acknowledged Harada at the time.
In 2014 and 2015, the publisher affirmed that while things were progressing, they were slow. The recent admission is the first time Bandai Namco has confirmed officially that Tekken X Street Fighter is no longer an active project for the publisher.
