Masato Musada, the creator of Fire Pro Wrestling, has passed away at the age of 48. The news was confirmed via Grasshopper Manufacture CEO Goichi ‘Suda 51’ Suda, who was a protege of his when they both worked at Human Entertainment, a studio that was a formal extension of the former studio, TRY.

Wrestling games have always been somewhat relegated into their own niche within the broad spectrum of sports games – if you were a fan of them, you’ve probably heard of the long-running Fire Pro Wrestling series. The first game was released back in 1989 on the PC Engine, only to be later re-released via the Wii’s Virtual console back in 2007.

Suda posted a very moving message via his personal twitter account:

“He was 48 years old, still young. I genuinely pray for his happiness in the next world. He was one of the greatest creators of video games and he was my direct teacher. Thank you for giving us our favorite Fire Pro-wrestling. You are the god of it.”

Suda originally met Masuda when he first joined Human Entertainment in the early ’90s, where he took the position of scenario writer on Super Fire Pro Wrestling 3 Final Bout. Suda would later start his own development studio, Grasshopper Manufacture, in 1998, two years before Human Entertainment was shuttered in 2000.

Masuda would later continue working on games within the series across a multitude of platforms. He didn’t stop his directorial role there either, as he would oversee, design, program, and even write several games across other genres as well, like Vasteel and F1 Triple Battle.