Tekken is an iconic, enduring franchise. But it seems the franchise's head honcho might be stepping away from the series to focus on fresh projects. New IPs, maybe?

In a recent 4Gamer interview (as translated by Siliconera ), Katsuhiro Harada says he's currently working on multiple titles, and he might actually unveil "two or three" of them this year. However, interestingly enough, it's "unlikely" that any of them will be a new Tekken .

Harada also implied that these new projects will be free-to-play titles, a model in which he clearly believes. As for the legendary fighting franchise, Harada had this to say:

"Tekken is one of my life's works, and while I can't say much here, together with the titles we were going to announce this year, I'm also working on several other titles simultaneously with Tekken. From there, I'd like to announce at least two of those titles in 2014, and I feel that it's something I must do."

The clarification came a little later on Harada's Twitter page :

"Probably I'll announce New 2 or 3 titles in this year. But it's not Tekken. Tekken announcement = secret now."

Namco Bandai released free-to-play iterations of Tekken and SoulCalibur in 2013 for the PlayStation 3, and it seems the publisher wishes to continue down that path. What do you think about free-to-play fighters? And what do you think Harada and Co. are working on?