Nihon Falcom founder and chairman Masayuki Kato has handed away on the age of 78, the studio has revealed. His reason for demise has not been said.
Per an announcement by Nihon Falcom (with translation from Reddit consumer TheBlueDolphina), Kato died on December fifteenth, which can also be when he “resigned from his place as Director” on the firm. That may sound apparent, however I am guessing confirming that is some form of requirement close to company construction.
Kato’s demise will likely be marked by a funeral and a wake which can be open solely to shut relations “in accordance with the needs of the bereaved household”, Nihon Falcom’s assertion reads. The studio can also be “respectfully” declining condolence items or bodily messages of sympathy.
Nihon Falcom was based by Masayuki Kato again in 1981, with the studio named for Star Wars‘ Millennium Falcon spaceship (and the N being swapped for an M because of the recognition of the “com” suffix on the time).
The corporate’s early video games would show massively influential in shaping the then-nascent JRPG and motion RPG genres; with franchises like Ys, The Legend of Heroes, and Dragon Slayer, the corporate arguably laid the groundwork for later giants like Ultimate Fantasy and Dragon Quest.
In the present day, Nihon Falcom is maybe finest identified for the still-ongoing Ys and The Legend of Heroes franchises, the latter of which has birthed the favored Trails sub-series to which luminaries like Trails within the Sky and Trails of Chilly Metal belong.
Whereas Kato remained the chairman of Nihon Falcom, he wasn’t its president; that position is stuffed by Toshihiro Kondo, who mentioned again in October that the studio was contemplating using generative AI for speedier translations.
It is not clear how the day-to-day operating of Nihon Falcom will likely be affected by Kato’s demise, however for now, we will merely mourn the lack of one of many JRPG world’s most influential figures. Keep tuned for extra.