We are no closer to finding out what the speedbump is that is making tournament holders pull Dragon Ball FighterZ from competitions. With that said, Bandai Namco's Katsuhiro Harada made a statement moments ago to the fighting game esports community that Bandai Namco is "committed to expand" the tournament and community scenes for Dragon Ball FighterZ, as well as other fighting games like Tekken 7 and SoulCalibur VI.The news comes by way of Twitter, where one of Bandai Namco's most prominent directors and producers Katsuhiro Harada issued a statement about his new involvement in Bandai Namco's esports strategy. According to his TwitLonger message, Harada-san has "become the leader and supervisor" of the studios' eSports Strategy team as of today. This will not impact his role as producers of these titles.

After offering his thanks to the support of the fighting game esports community, Harada-san delivered a message that Bandai Namco is "committed to expanding the horizons of both tournament and community scenes" for Dragon Ball FighterZ, SoulCalibur VI, and Tekken 7.

In doing so, the team already has plans in the works which includes a strong roster of official and community tournaments for the coming years:

We are already planning to have as many official tournaments as possible for next year—while continue supporting tournaments held by the community. Furthermore, we are dedicated to figure out ways where we can assist tournaments and community activities in the future.

Not addressing the latest Dragon Ball FighterZ controversey directly, Harada-san then points all question and inquiries to go to the local Bandai Namco office. DualShockers is still awaiting comment on the recent issues regarding the fighting game being pulled from esports tournaments.

If you are out of the loop on the scenario at large, lately Dragon Ball FighterZ has been pulled from a series of major tournaments with no explanations. Both convention holders as well as Toei Animation, the Dragon Ball property holders, have denied their involvement in getting these tournaments pulled. The end result has been general confusion and disheartenment from the fighting game community on future support for Dragon Ball FighterZ.

With this all in mind, the statement from Harada-san is very likely a boon for the community. Though questions do remain unanswered about the current situation, it does indicate that we will see further support for all three contemporary Bandai Namco fighting game franchises moving forward. In fact, the majority of responses to Harada-san's tweet seems to be positive, especially given his reputation and proven track record as a director and producer:

It will remain to be seen if we get a statement from Bandai Namco on the rest of the tournaments for this year, however a Dragon Ball FighterZ competition is still listed for Combo Breaker early next year.

Dragon Ball FighterZ is currently available on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One, and you can grab the game on Amazon now.