Joel Hochberg, former director of Rare, has died

Joel Hochberg, former director of Rare Ltd., has passed away this week at the age of 87. The news was published by miami herald and study co-founder Tim Stamper echoed the information. “Joel changed the course of history, he bought us our first Nintendo Famicom on one of his many trips to Japan,” he posts on Twitter.

RIP Joel, and thank you from all of us for everything you did for Rare ❤ https://t.co/pvxgeDrTbq— Rare Ltd. (@RareLtd) April 20, 2023

Hochberg joined Rare co-founders Tim Stamper and Chris Stamper in 1986 to oversee the US business with a division based in Miami, Florida. In addition to director of rare limited in Twycross, UK, he was also Chairman of Rare Coin-It Inc., which was dedicated solely to coin machines, having previously been Vice President of Centuri, an arcade manufacturer.

His name can be found in the credits of major Rare games.as Golden Eye 007, donkey kong country and Conker’s Bad Fur Day. The official account of the study, now part of Xbox Game Studios, has also remembered Hochberg for everything he did in the company.

everwildthe next game from Rare

In addition to continuing to support sea ​​of ​​thieves (2018) and assigning some of its licenses to other developers, as was the case with battletoads (2020) by Dlala Studios, the studio is still working on everwild. The third-person adventure was announced in 2019 and we’ve seen very little since then, partly due to the rumored reboots it’s suffered during development and the departure of some managers, such as creative director Simon Woodroffe. Last March, a well-known journalist assured that he was far from launching himself and that we would see before Avowed and Hellblade 2.