Suikoden creator Yoshitaka Murayama dies

Yoshitaka Murayama, co-creator of Suikoden and writer, producer, and director of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, has passed away.

Rabbit & Bear Studios, which Murayama founded in 2020, shared in a statement that he died on February 6 "due to complications with an ongoing illness."

"His hard work on Eiyuden Chronicle as [a] 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," the statement continued.

"We want to maintain his legacy and vision with this game and know that he would have wanted the rich world he has created with Eiyuden Chronicle to live on."

Eiyuden Chronicle was funded by a Kickstarter campaign in 2020, raising ¥481 million ($3.2 million). A prologue titled Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising was released in May 2022.

Murayama's career began in 1995 when creating Konami's RPG Suikoden. He worked on its sequel and served as a writer and director on the third installment, but left Konami in 2002 prior to the game's release.

He founded Blue Moon Studio soon after, developing third-person shooter 10,000 Bullets, which debuted in 2005.

Murayama then pivoted to freelance work between 2006 and 2017, during which he worked as a writer on Asmik Ace Entertainment's Tenshou Gakuen Gensouroku and Cattle Call's The Alliance Alive.

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