Rieko Kodama, a well-known Sega developer, producer, and artist, passed away at the age of 59. Let’s take a closer look at how she died and Rieko Kodama’s cause of death.
What Happened To Rieko Kodama?
Rieko Kodama’s passing was recently confirmed by Sega. There were rumors she had passed away after Retro Gamer editor Nick Thorpe tweeted a tribute to the creator found in the credits of the newly released Mega Drive Mini 2.
The official Ares Arcadia Twitter account reached out to Sega producer Yosuke Oskunari to see if the news of Kodama’s death was a mistranslation, but Oskunari confirmed the tragic news.
Sega claims Kodama died in May at the age of 59, but out of respect for her family, the company has chosen not to publicly mourn her passing.
Since 1984, Kodama has been a part of Sega’s team. When Kodama first joined the company, he worked as a graphic designer, but he eventually moved up to producing and directing.
Kodama was often miscredited as “Phoenix Rie” because Sega forbade the use of real names in its games’ credits.
Throughout her 35-year tenure at Sega, Kodama contributed to a wide variety of high-profile projects, including some of the company’s most acclaimed video games.
Rieko Kodama Death Cause
Her family and any online publications did not immediately provide the cause of death. Nobody was aware that she had passed away until an obituary was discovered in the staff credits for the Sega Genesis Mini 2 in October 2022.
@okunari Hello Okunari-san, usually when writing "In memory of", it is used for those who have passed away. May I ask if Kodama-san passed away or if this is just an odd use of this phrase? https://t.co/9S0POa66QJ
— Ares Arcadia (@AresArcadia) October 26, 2022
Medical topics have made an effort to get in touch with the family and close friends to ask them about the incident. There have been no responses as of yet. Once we have enough data, we’ll update this page. We’ll soon add more details about Rieko Kodama’s cause of death.
Rieko Kodama, Who Is She?
Rieko Kodama, also known as Phoenix Rie, was a Sega-employed Japanese video game director, producer, and artist. She was born on May 9, 1963, and died on May 9, 2022. (Japanese: Hepburn: Kodama Rieko).
She is best known for her work on role-playing games (RPGs) such as the original Phantasy Star series, the 7th Dragon series, and Skies of Arcadia. Kodama began her career at Sega in 1984 as a graphic designer. (2000). She is also well known for her artistic contributions to Master System and Sega Genesis games such as Sonic the Hedgehog (1988) and Altered Beast (1989). (1991).
Kodama began her career as a graphic designer but rose through the ranks to become a director and producer, a position she held until her death in 2022. Kodama is widely regarded as one of the first successful women in the video game industry. She was frequently questioned about her thoughts on how women and video games interact.
Because young females were exposed to video games more as children, Kodama believed that more women were becoming interested in the culture. She did not create games specifically for female audiences, but she did create characters that appeal to both men and women and avoided stereotypes of women.
Rieko Kodama Career
Kodama was hired by Sega in 1984 through a former coworker who already worked there. She had originally planned to work in graphic and advertising design, but after seeing the game development division, she realized it would also be fun.
Yoshiki Kawasaki, the Flicky sprite artist, quickly taught her graphic design skills (1984). Her first job involved designing characters for the arcade game Champion Boxing (1984). She continued to work on arcade games such as Sega Ninja (1984).
Due to the compressed production cycles and a lack of design staff at Sega, Kodama would occasionally work on five to six games at once.
She was “seriously involved” with Quartet for the arcade and Master System (1986), and Fantasy Zone II: The Tears of Opa-Opa for the Master System (1986). (1986). (1987).
Every day, Kodama would receive small requests to create assets for various projects, such as the dragon from Miracle Warriors: Seal of the Dark Lord (1987) and an adversary for The Black Onyx’s SG-1000 version of The Black Onyx (1987).
Kodama was also the editor of the Sega Players Enjoy Club newsletter in Japan (SPEC). In many of her early works, Kodama referred to herself as “Phoenix Rie,” “Phoenix Rie” [sic], or a close variant. This occurred because Sega prohibited game developers from using their names in their creations at the time. A manga character inspired the alias.
Read More:
- Mark Andrews Has Been Ruled Out Due To A Shoulder Injury
- Katy Perry’s Mid-concert Eye ‘Glitch’ Throws Fans Into A Frenzy
- The Song ‘midnights’ By Taylor Swift Breaks Records
