In hindsight, this shouldn’t come as a surprise. Hudson have been in a downward spiral for a while. First, their U.S. division was shut down by Konami, and then, Hudson’s Japanese division was relegated to developing social and mobile phone games.
Meijin announced on his blog yesterday that he would be leaving Hudson at the end of the month. He apologized for the short notice, and confirmed that he would continue to support the game industry, going forward. He made the announcement on his 52nd birthday.
In a separate announcement, gravure idol, Anno Haruna, revealed that she and Takahashi Meijin would be working together, although she didn’t go into specifics. Along with the announcement, she tweeted a picture of the two of them together at a flea market.
Takahashi Meijin is better known to fans as “Master Higgins,” was one of the most famous employees at Hudson, and often a spokesman for the company. He was once known for his famous speed of “16 shots per-second” in Star Soldier, referring to his ability to rapidly tap a button on a controller. Last year, Hudson even released a 16 Shot! Shooting Watch game on DSiWare to help players practise their own button-tapping skills.
