EA publishing Grasshopper horror title

By Tom Bramwell Published 15 August, 2008

Suda 51 and Shinji Mikami at the helm.

If EA hasn't already shed its Evil Empire image, then the news that it's set to publish a multiformat action horror title from No More Heroes developer Grasshopper Manufacture will at least convince a few more people of its rehabilitation.

Announced overnight, the as-yet unnamed game is designed by Goichi Suda and produced by Shinji Mikami. There's no release date, but the target platforms are PC, Xbox 360, PS3 and Wii.

What's more, the deal was apparently brokered by CAA in conjunction with Lumines developer Q Entertainment, "who will be working with Grasshopper Manufacture and EAP [EA Partners] on the project".

In a statement marking the announcement, Goichi Suda - better known to fans as Suda 51 - described EA as "a great partner who shares our commitment to quality and innovation while respecting our independence as a studio, which is very empowering."

Speaking for EA Partners, senior VP and general manager David DeMartini said the company was "honoured to be working with Mikami-san and Suda-san on this new project".

Grasshopper's most recent release is Wii exclusive No More Heroes, a delightfully self-conscious and thoughtful action game about an assassin who slices people up with a laser sword. Suda told Eurogamer in January that he wanted to make "something indecent and crazy".

Shinji Mikami, meanwhile, is probably best known for his founding role in Capcom's Resident Evil survival horror series, although he also directed the likes of God Hand and P.N. 03 during more than 15 years at Capcom and, latterly, doomed-but-brilliant satellite studio Clover.

We await the results of their collaboration with frothy anticipation.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (19) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Derblington #1 4 years ago

    Most interesting!

  • dr_shambles #2 4 years ago

    Wow! EA keep surprising us.

    With Q Entertainment being involved it might well mean Tetsuya Mizuguchi may be on board too. He's mates with Goichi Suda so it's possible.



  • Der_tolle_Emil #3 4 years ago

    I'm excited! The names behind this project sure sound like a good match. I just hope EA don't think they know better but let those two do what they do best without telling them what to do.

  • Derblington #4 4 years ago

    We love Katamari is crap anyway. Yeah, I went there.

    It also wasn't EAP as far as I'm aware, and if not it's not a decent example. Crysis would be better.

  • Fernando #5 4 years ago

    Mikami only producing?

  • speedjack #6 4 years ago

    Wow. This is pretty much a game development dream team.... and on EA ?!!

    Whoduvthunkit !!!

  • IronCladChicken #7 4 years ago

    I think ActivisionBlizzard has actually over taken EA from my most evil games developer/publisher list.

    Which, after destroying Origin (I still have nightmares over Ultima9) and Bulldog (They shelved DungeonKeeper3 the bastards) is pretty good going from both sides

  • space_ace #8 4 years ago

    origin ;_;

  • kinky_mong #9 4 years ago

    Survival horror. A genre where 90% of the games leave the player unsure of what's going on and have very little replay value. Sounds like the perfect genre for Suda 51! ;-)

    Disclaimer: This was just a joke based on my experience of Killer 7, which just as I was really getting in to it replaced the last level with holding A to go from one cutscene to the next.

  • Triggerhappytel #10 4 years ago

    Derblington - EA did publish We Love Katamari, and like nekotcha says, not only did they do zero marketing but it was also damn hard to find them in shops after release. Don't get me wrong, I think this new EA are vastly improved, but I won't distort the truth on some of their old habits.

    On topic, this must be great news for Grasshopper - it means this game will have a strong chance of reaching a huge audience, with the backing of EA. I haven't played NMH, but I do hope this game is better than killer7, which I thought had great style and graphics but had really poor gameplay.

  • Derblington #11 4 years ago

    EA co-published Katamari with Namco, it wasn't EAP (EA Partners).
    Edited by 1 at 15/08/08 @ 10:59

  • thedaveeyres #12 4 years ago

    I don't find grasshoppers horrible at all. Shame on you, EG.

  • Triggerhappytel #13 4 years ago

    Well, they certainly distributed it (Namco don't do anything themselves in Europe these days, it seems), and like I said, the numbers available in stores was pathetic.

  • Derblington #14 4 years ago

    I'm not disagreeing with you but the important part of what I'm saying is that it wasn't EAP.

  • BillyBrush #15 4 years ago

    Unnamed eh

    i bet they call it someting like

    DARKNESS

  • UGhost #16 4 years ago

    @BillyBrush: The working title was 'Closer'...

  • riz23 #17 4 years ago

    Oddworld: Strangers Wrath is not a great example as that game was almost finished and then dropped by their original publisher (I forget who) and then EA picked it up, probably at a knockdown price. If you dont spend much then you dont need to recoup money through an expensive marketing campaign. And as derblinton points out, a distribution deal is vastly different from a publishing deal.

  • VMerken #18 4 years ago

    EA's still a looooooooooong way from its glory days as far as I'm concerned. Let's just see how this turns out, shall we? Let's just see how EA will "publish" the work from these creative talents...

  • Triggerhappytel #19 4 years ago

    Alright, another example of a fucking awesome game which EA published and subsequently forgot to market: Freedom Fighters. A great game with huge mass market appeal, and EA's complete absence of marketing and backing all but ensured it bombed at retail.