Shutaro Ida, who had worked on Castlevania and served as designer/director of Bloodstained, has stepped away from developing the next episode in the series after being diagnosed with cancer. Ida posted on his X account that he had already begun working on the new chapter of the metroidvania but now needs to focus on his treatment.
Here is his post, translated (as reported by VGC):
“I, Shutaro, also known as Curry Boy and Curry Sage, have been diagnosed with cancer and have started my battle against the disease. I had already begun discussing the sequel to Bloodstained and have several ideas for the game. From now on, I will leave this work to others. Thank you for your support”.
Ida’s post was retweeted by the producer of Castlevania and Bloodstained, Koji Igarashi, who sent his best wishes:
“So far, the DS series [of Castlevania, Ed.] and Bloodstained have been primarily produced under director Shutaro. They can truly be called his works. It’s a big disappointment that he is stepping away from the project, but we will do our best to make up for it. We hope he recovers soon so we can work together again”.
Below is Shutaro Ida’s post on X.
これまで、DSシリーズやブラッドステインドは実質的にSHUTAROディレクターを中心に制作を行ってきました。
正に彼の作品と言えるでしょう。
そんな彼がプロジェクトから遠ざかるのは大変な痛手ですが、それに負けぬよう頑張ります。
また一緒に仕事ができるまで回復することを期待します。 https://t.co/YirZi5fYYD— IGA (@KojiIGA) October 1, 2024