Tekken 7 Director Katsuhiro Harada took to Twitter earlier this week to state he was growing tired of having to avoid offending people during the game design process. The tweet was made in response to a fan suggesting he create a Viking fighter and add a new nationality to the game's already wide variety of characters.

Harada is well known for being opinionated, particularly on Twitter. A few years ago the director became the center of controversy when he introduced Lucky Chloe as a character, a woman dressed up as a cat while wearing very little beyond her feline accessories. As a character design, many felt it was lazy, stereotypical, and promoted an unhealthy attitude towards women, especially in Western audiences. Harada responded by suggesting fans only wanted muscle and skinhead type characters before threatening to only release the character in European and Asian regions, and predictably, it only created even more negativity.

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Now, Harada has his sights set on a different target: internet users who are quick to point out they've been offended by content they see while browsing online. Harada responded to the tweet requesting a Viking character by stating that doing the design would be difficult because people often complain about stereotypes. He went on to suggest, jokingly, that people everywhere should wear jeans and plain t-shirts do they don't risk offending anyone by their apparel designs:

Then, Harada quoted his own tweet and explained why he felt the need to deliver his rant:

With Harada, it's difficult to tell when he's being facetious, so there's a chance this gets blown off as a joke in the same way his Lucky Chloe statements were years ago. A lot of fans rallied to support him, too, suggesting that he pursue whatever designs he likes. We'd be surprised if there was the same response towards a character based on Nordic history as some of Tekken's more wild fighting game character designs, like Lucky Chloe or a literal boxing dinosaur, but it is difficult to predict how the internet will react. Harada, for his part, isn't troubled, as he affirmed his stance that he'll continue to do what he feels is best for the series, regardless of public opinion:

Given Harada's past brushes with people requesting censorship of his character designs, it's not a surprise to see he has a stance like this. The issue stems from how exaggerated his opinion appears to have become: if it's a joke, it could be misconstrued as a statement of intent and attract the wrong sort of crowd to a fanbase that's just passionate about Tekken's future. If it's serious, it's a troubling take from someone in a position of power whose game design decisions can affect millions of people. Harada might be tired of dancing around offending people, but Bandai Namco probably isn't, and he'll likely need to keep that in mind moving forward.

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Source: @Harada_TEKKEN (2, 3, 4)