Today Rabbit & Bear Studios shared a tragic announcement, development veteran Yoshitaka Murayama, creator of the Suikoden franchise, has passed away.
According to the announcement shared on Kickstarter, Murayama-san left us on February 6, due to complications with an ongoing illness.
Unfortunately, he did not manage to see the release of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, the promising JRPG that would have marked his grand return.
His colleagues Junko Kawano, Junichi Murakami, and Osamu Komuta conveyed the announcement to the fans, mentioning that he managed to finish his work on the scenario of Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes, and that the game will be released to push his dream forward.
Below you can read the full announcement.
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 and know 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.
Murayama-san is mostly famous for the Suikoden series, which he created in 1995 and received multiple sequels. He worked on a few games afterward, including FuRyu's Alliance Alive. He then launched Rabbit & Bear Studios with the intent of creating a brand-new JRPG titled Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes.
The Kickstarter campaign for the game was welcomed with jubilation by the fans, who pledged a whopping $4.5 million to the cause, making it one of the most successful gaming crowdfunding campaigns of all time.
The studio released the spin-off action JRPG Eiyuden Chronicle: Rising in 2022, and is now preparing to launch Hundred Heroes, with a release date in just a few months, on April 23, 2024, for PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and PC.
I had the honor of meeting Murayama-san multiple times. The last was in 2022 to interview him about his latest game, and I will never forget his passion and his generosity in being available to answer the questions by a journalist from a niche American website, especially considering that many developers were still declining interviews in person due to the pandemic at that time.
Rest in peace, Murayama-san. You will be missed.
Full disclosure: the author of this post has backed Eiyuden Chronicle: Hundred Heroes on Kickstarter.
