Er is triest nieuws te melden voor gamers die een speciaal plekje in hun hart hebben voor de Suikoden-reeks. De bedenker van de RPG-franchise, Yoshitaka Murayama, is overleden. Murayama kampte met een ziekte en bijkomende complicaties zijn hem fataal geworden.

De bedenker van de Suikoden-serie schreef, produceerde en regisseerde de eerste drie delen van de RPG-reeks. Daarna vertrok Murayama bij Konami om als freelance ontwikkelaar verder te gaan. In 2020 richtte hij Rabbit & Bear Studio op en werd zijn eerste project een spirituele opvolger van Suikoden genaamd: Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes.

Om dit project te financieren lanceerde hij een Kickstarter-campagne en die was uitermate succesvol. Het werd namelijk de op twee na meest gefinancierde Kickstarter-campagne voor games ooit. Helaas zal Murayama de release van dit spel niet meemaken, want de game komt pas in april uit.

Het officiële statement van Rabbit & Bear Studio omtrent het overlijden van Yoshitaka Murayama is als volgt:

Hello everyone,

It’s with a heavy heart and deep sadness we must inform you that the scenario writer and head of Rabbit& Bear Studios, Yoshitaka Murayama, has passed away on February 6th due to complications with an ongoing illness.

Murayama first began this journey of the creation of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes in 2020 through the support of his very loving fans on Kickstarter. Throughout the three-plus-year-development of the game, it was always the passion from his fans that continued to drive his creative vision and motivate him to put his all into the project.

His hard work on Eiyuden Chronicle as scenario writer was finished but as his co-workers and friends, it saddens us to know that he won’t get to see the reactions from his fans.

However, even with those feelings we need to accept the reality that he is no longer with us and continue to push his dream forward by releasing Eiyuden Chronicle to the world. We want to maintain his legacy and vision with this game andknow that he would have wanted the rich world he has created with Eiyuden Chronicle to live on.

His family sincerely appreciates your prayers and support but asks for privacy and that no flowers, mail, or other offerings be sent. We will have more information on organizational changes to
Rabbit & Bear as well as changes to some of the Kickstarter rewards in the near future.

For now, we appreciate your continued support.