Metal Gear and Castlevania programmer and designer Shutaro Iida has passed away at the age of 52 after a battle with cancer, according to a post on his X account.
The post, which was spotted by ResetEra user Foffy earlier today, confirms that Iida died on February 10th due to pancreatic cancer. He’s been fighting the illness for some time, according to Foffy’s translation.
If you don’t know Iida by name, you’ll almost certainly know him from his work; he served as a programmer on several Castlevania titles, including iconic games like Aria of Sorrow and Portrait of Ruin, as well as working as a level designer on Castlevania: Harmony of Despair.
As well as the Castlevania games, Iida also worked on Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain and its demo-sized predecessor Ground Zeroes as a programmer; he appears to be a big part of why the enemy AI in those games is so solid, as it were.
After working at Konami, Iida joined former Castlevania producer Koji Igarashi to work on 2019’s excellent Bloodstained: Ritual of the Night, on which he served as director, with Iga occupying the role of producer.
Iida was due to lead the upcoming followup Bloodstained: The Scarlet Engagement as well. According to an official statement by Igarashi on the website of his studio ArtPlay, development on that game is “now at its final stages”.
The franchises on which Iida worked live on, too; during the most recent PlayStation State of Play presentation, it was announced that a brand new Castlevania game is in the works, and that a second Metal Gear Solid: Master Collection will be released.
Our thoughts here at TechRaptor go out to Iida’s family, friends, and colleagues at this difficult time. He leaves a very impressive legacy indeed behind.