Game developers can wear many hats. Some are writers, as well as directors and designers. Others may have hidden talents or side jobs. Hidetaka “Swery65” Suehiro is a Buddhist priest. Really, the Access Games founder who’s behind titles like The Last Blade, Deadly Premonition, Lord of Arcana, and D4: Dark Dreams Don’t Die has just become a priest.
Swery65 first spoke about his desire to become a Buddhist priest at BitSummit 2016. His parents were priests and he was raised in a temple, and even was “qualified” to become a priest in high school after tokudo-shuurai training to become a standard-level monk. He hadn’t pursued it until now, but decided to take that step while on a development hiatus to recover from reactive hypoglycemia. This latest step was a 10-day qualification process, following a three-year correspondence course with a Buddhist university. He is now a kyoushi, which means teacher.
Don’t worry though, Swery65 will continue making games. At the end of the interview with IGN , he says, “My only concern until now has been how to balance the two [roles]. And going forward, how can I balance them while making good work. And how to use religious practice in a way that can serve society.” It looks like he’ll get to be one of the lucky people that gets to pursue both of his dreams!
Source: IGN