Koichi Sugiyama, the composer for the Dragon Quest series has passed away at the age of 90. Square Enix Japan has put out a statement on their official Dragon Quest website and listed his cause of death as septic shock with his death having happened on September 30, 2021.
Koichi Sugiyama created music for the Dragon Quest series since its inception with over 500 songs to his credit and he was composing the score for the upcoming 12th mainline game in the series, Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate.
It needs to be noted that Sugiyama had some very controversial views as well, regarding LGBTQ individuals, denying Japanese actions during the Imperial Military era such as the Rape of Nanjing and the use of comfort women, his ties to groups that deny the Holocaust, and continuous supporting of extreme ultra-nationalist groups, allegedly with financial backing, just to name a few. As much as his legacy was important in gaming, let us keep the full nature of the man in mind.