Skip to main content

Punk lives on: Suda 51 says he agreed to sell his studio so he could get back to creating

Killer is Dead
Image used with permission by copyright holder

GungHo Online Entertainment’s Jan. 30 announcement that it had acquired Grasshopper Manufacture was more shocking than the usual story of a publisher buying up an independent video game studio. Grasshopper Manufacture is Goichi “Suda 51” Suda’s studio, creator of some of the more outré games to his mainstream game machines. Michigan: Report From HellKiller 7, and No More Heroes were all unusually confrontational games that embodied the studio’s slogan, “Punk’s Not Dead.” Was Grasshopper Manufacture selling out or buying in? Would the move kill the studio’s signature creativity?

According to Suda himself, the move was made to GungHo Online Entertainment precisely because it needed a method to keep that creativity alive.

Recommended Videos

“Around 2011, I was thinking about what I should do with the company, groping about in the dark to try and figure out the real purpose, the real value of Grasshopper Manufacture,” Suda told Japanese magazine 4Gamer, “So while we were deciding our next project, I was too absorbed in the management side of business to really focus on the creative. [GungHo president Kazuki] Morishita asked ‘isn’t that my job?’, and it put me back on the right path.”

As Grasshopper Manufacture’s output has increased in recent years, the apparent quality of its games has dipped. Even though sales oLollipop Chainsaw were healthy compared to games like No More Heroes, the critical consensus found that it was lacking by comparison. The same is true of 2011’s Shadows of the Damned, but those recent titles weren’t directed by Suda 51. Grasshopper Manufacture may lose its independence in the acquisition, but the burden of management will free up its marquee creative mind.

“Up until now, we’ve been lucky enough to have worked with big name clients, and I’m very thankful to have learned all I have from them,” said Suda, “However, at the same time, it’s also true that it was difficult to truly grasp the creative reigns of a project, which is a situation I’ve been trying to rectify.”

The security offered by the acquisition has seemingly helped Suda come back to directing. Even though the game will be published by Marvelous AQL in Japan and Xseed Games in the US, this summer’s Killer is Dead marks Suda’s return to directing games. Here’s hoping it is also a return to form for his studio.

Source: Edge

Anthony John Agnello
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Anthony John Agnello is a writer living in New York. He works as the Community Manager of Joystiq.com and his writing has…
Samsung’s new cloud service lets you play games without downloading them
A computer generated image of a Samsung phone with a gaming hub logo on it. It's surrounded by floating game iconography, like a controller, a die, and a car.

Samsung has a new way for Galaxy users to play games. The device manufacturer has been working on getting into the gaming space for a couple years, and its latest venture is a free mobile gaming platform that'll let you stream Android games through the cloud on a Galaxy device.

The program entered beta last year in the Gaming Hub, and is now available to the public. There will be 23 games available at launch, including Monopoly Go, Candy Crush Saga, and Honor of Kings. 

Read more
The best gacha games in 2024
Wuthering Waves character illustrations.

Whether you're familiar with or completely new to gacha games, there's a wide variety of options to choose from. From sci-fi to fantas, and even dress-up games, gacha appeals to a wide audience, and you're sure to find the right game for your taste.

But what does 2024 have to offer? While some of the best gacha titles have just been released this year, others are older and still widely popular. If you're looking for the best gacha game to get into, you should find what you're looking for in the list below.

Read more
How to stealth kill in Stalker 2
Key art for Stalker 2. A character in a lit-up gas mask and a gun on their back.

It won't take long before The Zone teaches you one very important tip for surviving in Stalker 2: Heart of Chornobyl, which is to avoid fighting whenever possible. You can only carry so many resources, and prolonged fights can leave you with almost nothing left. And that's if you even manage to survive. There are some fights you just can't get around, though, but going in guns blazing isn't the best strategy. There's a handy stealth kill mechanic in Stalker 2, but you won't find it in any of the tutorials.
How to stealth kill in Stalker 2

You have the ability to stealth kill right off the bat, though it is not something the game will ever explain or tell you. It works how you would think, but is tricky enough to pull off that you might not think it's possible even if you try the right thing.

Read more