Katsuhiro Harada, director of Tekken, believes that pesky youngsters don't like fighting games as much as their peers because, unlike team games, they have no one to turn to when they lose. [Chatting with PlayStation's Shuhei Yoshida on the AIAS Game Maker's Notebook podcast, Harada said he feels that the attitude toward one-on-one matches is different than it was in Harada's day. When Yoshida asked about the future of fighting games, he said, "I think the way we play fighting games has evolved with the generations" (thank you, VGC).

"In Japan, and probably in most of the world, my generation is a big part. We make up a significant portion of the population. So our society has become competitive," he continued. There was always competition when it came to applying for schools and jobs. Because of this, people of my generation prefer clear outcomes, clear winners and losers. This also applies to people in their 50s or so."

Harada believes this is not the case now. He says, "The opposite is true for the majority of young people these days. They don't want to engage in one-on-one confrontations. Besides, fighting games are played by one person against one opponent, so if you lose, you have to take all the blame. You can't blame anyone else. In team-based shooters, if a player wins, he can say that he won thanks to his own contribution. But when he loses, it is because he was matched against the worst team."

Now, have I ever won a game of "Overwatch" and then called myself a god and vehemently denied my countless deaths as the word "DEFEAT" flashed on the screen? There is. I feel a little called out by Harada right now." Maybe so. Because a few weeks ago, I was having a similar conversation with some of my fighting game buddies.

While it may be a bit unfair to say that the younger generation is less competitive, there definitely seems to be some truth to it when it comes to solo competitive spirit versus team competitive spirit.

However, Harada does not believe that just because the younger generation is a bit quicker at passing the ball around, that is the end of the genre. I'm not suggesting that fighting games should suddenly become puzzle games or real-time strategy games," he said. I think there is still demand for these hand-to-hand fighting games. But maybe we could also include methods of fighting outside of the main game," he continued. [For example, it may not always have to be a one-on-one fight. For example, you could opt for team fights, such as three-on-three. It might be nice to incorporate this into the official rankings in the online mode. In team competitions, you might be able to determine positions within a team, like the order of teammates in a judo match."

Given that I wrote in my review of "Tekken 8" that I was hoping for more team-based modes to be added, this is definitely something I would like to see. In the past, team fights were still one-on-one battles, but there is room to arrange them into something that can be played with a group of friends.

After all, this seems to be something Harada is pondering. He says, "Right now, in Tekken's online mode, each player is fighting alone, battle after battle, just trying to move up in the ranks. Perhaps a more varied mode based on things like teams and regions would increase the metagame."