Grasshopper Manufacture, the studio lead by eccentric game developer Suda 51, partnered with GungHo Online Entertainment, a little known online game company, earlier this year. The partnership took most people by surprise, but apparently Suda has a plan for the online studio.

“I think the biggest part of our [partnership] is [GungHo's] online vision, their online capability is something that Grasshopper [was] lacking. That's one of those things that we really want to utilize and try to work together to create something new,” said Suda in an interview with Destructoid. Suda went on to talk about how letting another studio handle online and multiplayer aspects of a game lets him and the rest of Grasshopper Manufacture concentrate on single-player content. “Now that we're working together, as Grasshopper we get to concentrate more solely on the creative side. It gives me more freedom and not [have to] worry about the other stuff.” Suda said.

Suda believes that online play is necessary to build replay value in titles and has been wanting to integrate online multiplayer into his titles for some time. He said that he, “wants to create Grasshopper games that people can play online,” so that the “end” of the game isn’t really the end of the gameplay experience. Suda is looking into both co-op and competitive multiplayer for future titles, but was not ready to mention specifics on any title in development.

Suda 51 has been responsible for several quirky titles such as Killer 7 and No More Heroes, and we can’t wait to see what he has in store for this upcoming gaming generation. Hopefully we will hear more info from Grasshopper Manufacture when E3 rolls around.

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