Updated OP.
New words from Harada:
Credits~
Thanks to Omni for fixing the thread title
Thanks to Starphoenix for providing the new info
SourceNowGamer said:Smash Bros is coming to Wii U courtesy of Nintendo and Namco Bandai. Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada has revealed the scale of the project.
Smash Bros. Wii U is being co-developed by Namco Bandai, and is a "big priority for the company", Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada can confirm.
In an interview with NowGamer, Harada explained the true scale of Namco's massive joint effort with Nintendo.
"Obviously it’s a big priority for the company," Harada explained, "so company-wide there are a lot of people involved with that particular project. Not just from Tekken but a lot of our franchises. "
Harada continued, "Although our main core staff is busy with Tekken Tag tournament 2 and trying to finish that up, I do think we’ll support the initiative in some kind of capacity."
We also asked Harada if he knew of any Namco characters who would be appearing in Smash Bros. Wii U.
Harada responded, "That question was one of the most frequently asked questions we got when we announced the project. Especially from abroad."
"The fans, rather than asking about Tales or Gundam, or some of our other franchises, the fans abroad saw Tekken as one of the key words and took off on that."
"We’re not really sure at this moment but when thinking of the playerbase who is playing Smash Bros, maybe Tekken characters is something they wouldn’t want, so I’ve been pulling back on that a bit. But I don’t know."
We'll have more on Smash Bros. Wii U as it happens.
New words from Harada:
Thankfully this clarifies that Sakurai is in fact directing the new Super Smash Bros.NG: As you said earlier, Namco will be working with Nintendo on the next Smash Bros. game and, from what we understand, some of the Tekken team will be working on the game. Can you assure some of our more concerned readers that Super Smash Bros. 4 is in good hands?
KH: Well I guess the main point is that obviously the director is still Sakurai-san and he’ll still obviously be the lead on the project. But as far as staff on our side at Namco Bandai, I guess our foreign fans are excited about the involvement of Tekken staff but if you look at it in general, including Japan, a lot of the staff involved have been known for working on many famous titles throughout our line-up both past and present, and these are all individuals who have worked directly in the development teams on various projects and have a lot of experience in their respective fields. So I think that it’s safe to say we can expect a really good title to come out of that.
SourceHarada said:“Obviously people are saying many things since we are developing the next Smash Bros. We’re very excited that Nintendo chose us, and most they likely did because Namco Bandai has a very good track record with fighting games such as the Tekken series. We have a lot of experience and knowledge regarding this particular genre, that’s probably one of the factors in their decision. That being said, although we’ll help provide support on technology and other things involved creating the game, I’m currently very focused on the Tekken series. Some people might say online that I’m going to be involved in the development process or not but that shouldn’t really be an issue because the game design is going to be handled Masahiro Sakurai. So I don’t understand why there would be any worries there.
“I mentioned in a past interview recently that the Tekken characters are something that maybe long time fans of the Smash Bros. series don’t really expect, so maybe they won’t be in there. The feedback was very mixed, there were 2 camps, one said ‘Harada, you’re very right, we don’t need the Tekken characters in Smash Bros, good job.’ It’s nice that they agree with me but on the other hand, they themselves don’t exactly need Tekken characters in Smash Bros. so it’s kind of complex. Then there’s the other half were people saying ‘No you’re totally wrong, we want Tekken and Soul Calibur characters in the game otherwise why does it need to be developed be Namco Bandai’ so there’s really two different sides and it’s difficult to choose one. Obviously I’m not going to say to Sakurai, ‘We want Tekken characters, please put it in’ that’s not the case so people don’t have to worry about that. The sole decision will probably be made in a way that if more people want Tekken characters in it then Sakurai might choose to do so, if not then so be it.”
Credits~
Thanks to Omni for fixing the thread title
Thanks to Starphoenix for providing the new info