Grasshopper Manufacture is notorious for developing some of the most unique and intriguing titles around, both from a gameplay standpoint and a storytelling standpoint. The company’s most recent efforts include the hilarious Shadows of the Damned and No More Heroes: Heroes’ Paradise, an HD remake of the stellar Wii original. The company is on a roll, and they have several projects due out in the future.
Last year, two industry visionaries joined the Grasshopper team. Yasuhiro Wada, creator of the Harvest Moon series, and Yoshiro Kimura, creator of Little King’s Story, both joined Suda51, adding their impressive resumes to the already awesome repertoire of Grasshopper. Wada and Kimura were signed on as the company’s chief operations officer and chief creative officer, respectively. Unfortunately, we recently learned via Siliconera that the two individuals had parted ways with the developer last month.
Neither individual has commented on why he decided to leave Grasshopper. It was reported previously, however, that Kimura had been intending on retiring from his career as a game developer. Keeping that in mind, it’s possible that he’ll do exactly that now that he’s gone from Grasshopper.
We’ll have to wait and see what kind of impact these two losses have on the developer. No doubt both of these men were great intellectual minds in the video game industry. We wish nothing but the best to both individuals as well as Grasshopper Manufacture, and you can bet we’ll be waiting and watching to see what each of these parties does next.
