Tekken X Street Fighter Might Still Happen, It’s Just On “Pause”

The embattled Tekken X Street Fighter crossover game might still launch in the future despite recent reports of the project being “officially dead,” according to Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada.

Reports began circulating earlier this week that the long-in-development title has been cancelled after Harada said that “development stopped but [the team] got about 30% done” in an episode of his talk show Harada’s Bar. However, Harada took to TwitLonger to clarify his statement, saying the English subtitles misconstrued the actual status of Tekken X Street Fighter.

In the post, Harada says the phrase “今はとめてますよ(ima tomete masuyo)” means “it’s pending state” and similar to “pause.” The episode’s English subtitles suggested Harada meant development on the game is over. Harada said that’s not that the case, as in context, the phrase means that “up to 30% of the development was in progress, but now it is still pending.”

Harada also mentioned his comments on artist collaboration, saying that all illustrations solicited for Tekken X Street Fighter have been “put in storage” for now because the team doesn’t own the rights to them indefinitely. Despite how much of a slog it’s been, Harada said the team is just waiting for the “right opportunity” to resume development on Tekken X Street Fighter.

“We are still hopeful that TKxSF will resume development when the opportunity arises,” Harada said. “However, such a title cannot be moved just for the convenience of one company in terms of marketing and branding, and it also affects each other’s development resources. For now, we are just waiting for the right opportunity.”

Harada echoed a similar sentiment in 2016, where he told GameSpot that development on Tekken X Street Fighter was no longer active because the team didn’t want to bifurcate the community between two fighting games.

Tekken X Street Fighter, announced in 2010, was meant to serve as a sibling to Street Fighter X Tekken, which was announced at the same time and actually launched on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in 2012. Tekken X Street Fighter would feature the same characters but in Tekken’s fighting engine.