GungHo looks beyond Puzzles & Dragons — to Japan’s gaming iconoclast

GungHo Online Entertainment is in an interesting phase of its business. The game studio is no longer part of Softbank, the giant Japanese telecom company. Its breadwinner, Puzzle & Dragons, is still doing well in Asia, and in May it hit the 10 million download landmark in the U.S. It’s testing Super Senso, a mobile strategy game from New York developer Turbo. And it’s working with 17 Bit to release Galak-Z, a fun, niche mech-roguelike for the PlayStation 4, on mobile.

Oh, and it’s working with one of the most distinctive game developers: Goichi Suda, aka Suda 51, whose Grasshopper Manufacture studio is known for stylish, sometimes violent and bloody games. He’s even written songs for some of his creations, too. GungHo will publish Let It Die, Grasshopper’s next game.