Katsuhiro Harada in Italy: The Tekken producer will be at Game Ground 2025 in Bolzano.

For the first time in our country, the "father" of Tekken will meet Italian fans in person during the festival dedicated to gaming culture, scheduled for October 17th to 19th. Three days of talks, tournaments, meetings, and international guests will transform Bolzano into the gaming capital.

The Tekken saga represents one of the most important and influential pillars of video game history. Since the first installment's debut in 1994, the series has sold over 57 million copies worldwide, becoming a global phenomenon spanning generations and platforms. Much of this success is linked to Katsuhiro Harada, series producer and key figure at Bandai Namco, who will be in Italy for the first time this year as guest of honor at Game Ground 2025, the festival dedicated to the gaming world taking place in Bolzano from October 17th to 19th.

Harada will be the star of the fifth edition of Game Ground, which will once again bring developers, content creators, and industry professionals from around the world to the South Tyrolean capital. The festival, organized by the BeYoung (UPAD) association with the support of the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, the Municipality, and the Cassa di Risparmio Foundation, will take place as a traveling event between Castel Mareccio, the Natural Science Museum, the DRIN - Citizens' Club, the Twenty shopping center, and the Civic Library, transforming the city's iconic locations into spaces for meeting, discussion, and entertainment.

The official kickoff will be on Friday, October 17th at 5:00 PM with the conference "The Return of Single Player: The End of the Live Service Era?" hosted by Francesco Toniolo, professor at the Catholic University of the Sacred Heart in Milan. The highlight, however, will be Saturday, October 18th, when at 1:00 PM, Castel Mareccio will host the highly anticipated meeting with Katsuhiro Harada. In a roughly hour-long talk, the sensei will share anecdotes, curiosities, and behind-the-scenes stories about the birth and evolution of one of the most iconic fighting game series of all time, before an audience of fans and enthusiasts.

The afternoon will continue with a panel dedicated to the relationship between comics and video games, featuring MikeShowSha, one of Italy's most followed streamers, in conversation with Emanuele "CapComics" D'Ascanio. This will be followed by a discussion on technology with Maciej Kwiatkowski, head of motion capture at Alpha7 (Cyberpunk 2077, The Witcher 4), who will discuss animation techniques in modern video games with Luciana "Svet" Perrucci. The final day, Sunday, October 19th, will be dedicated to narrative and creative challenges. At 2:30 PM, Marco Mantoan (Lead Narrative Designer) and Marco Ponte (CEO & Creative Director of Nacon Studio Milan) will discuss building complex narrative universes. Immediately afterward, Andrea Basilio and Andrea Salamone of Milestone will reveal the behind-the-scenes story behind the development of the new Screamer, a revival of a '90s racing icon.