At the fighting tournament last weekend, the EVO organisers pranked the audience and set up a clip showing a codec conversation between Tekken 7 producer Katsuhiro Harada and Metal Gear’s Solid Snake. After a boisterous buzz of speculation that Solid Snake could be a new fighter coming to Tekken 7, EVO apologised on Twitter for the wind up and called it, ‘our idea of a little joke.’

Unfortunately, not everyone thought the same. One of those people is the real Katsuhiro Harada, who took to Twitter and explained his confusion and regret for excited fans. Translated by Reddit user Go2Fail, Harada stated that EVO has apologised to Bandai Namco for their antics and that EVO had made other clips that evidently — and thankfully — didn’t make it to air. 

Harada said he felt sorry for not only the fans that then expected a concrete announcement for Snake, but also for Konami and Hideo Kojima, even though it was no fault of Bandai Namco. And when a Japanese fan asked if the ordeal was in fact a marketing master plan, he expressed that announcing a new fighter like this clearly leaves a bad taste in everyone’s mouth. 

国内向けにも説明しておくと、EVO決勝の休憩時間に会場内向け映像(中継無し)で、MGSのスネークと私が会話する数秒の謎映像が流れました。これを受けてバンナム陣営からはEVO側に猛抗議し、EVO側が勝手に作った映像である事が判明しました。他にも色々と無監修映像アリ(続)https://t.co/p9qol6F00S

— Katsuhiro Harada (@Harada_TEKKEN) August 5, 2019

 

EVO側から正式に謝罪があり、釈明Tweetをしてもらいました。 しかしまあ、勝手に作った映像のせいで勝手に期待されるわ、その後正式発表無かったと怒る人まで現れるわ、こちらとしては何故かコナミさんや小島さんにも申し訳ない気持ちになるわで(当然我々は何もしてませんが)https://t.co/xYbOX1Xj4u

What’s more, Solid Snake’s voice actor David Hayter commented on the ‘little joke’. He wasn’t pleased with EVO either, and especially for using his voice in a misleading tease.

だからそれ、我々にとってそんな妙な炎上させて何の特があるの？ ただでさえ順調好調アナウンスも大盛り上がりで充分バズってたのに、妙な炎上起こしたらネガティブな印象しか残らないじゃない。 同じ炎上ならもっとポジティブにしますよ。

RT @cN3kgVrcqqGbQRS 流行りの炎上商法じゃないですよね？

Yikes. Suffice it to say, EVO won’t be trying that again.  

EVO,

You also failed to consult me, or Konami. Please do not use my voice to promote other games. Ever.

DH https://t.co/6ZgCEPVddU

— David Hayter (@DavidBHayter) August 5, 2019