Summary
FromSoftwareLead Composer Yuka Kitamura has left the famous Japanese developer following a lengthy stint at the company. Kitamura worked atFromSoftwarefor the past 12 years, with the studio’s first game to feature one of her soundtracks being the 2013Armored Core: Verdict Day.
After co-authoring the OST of the latestArmored Coregame with Kota Hoshino, Kitamura teamed up withDark Soulscomposer Motoi Sakuraba on the soundtrack forDark Souls 2. She served later served as the lead composer onBloodborne,Dark Souls 3, andSekiro: Shadows Die Twice. TheDark Soulscomposer later returned to create theElden RingOSTtogether with Tsukasa Saitoh, Shoi Miyazawa, Tai Tomisawa, and Yoshimi Kudo.
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That lengthy spell at FromSoftware has now come to an end, as revealed by Kitamura herself. The 33-year-old took to Twitter on August 1 to announce her departure from the Tokyo-based developer, adding that she has decided to start working as a freelance composer moving forward. Her departure could potentially be a big loss for the studio, as Kitamura was largely or solely responsible for authoring what are widely considered some ofthe best RPG soundtracksin recent memory.
While she wasn’t the lead composer on FromSoftware’s most recently released game, Kitamura still authored some ofElden Ring’sbest boss music, includingMalenia, Blade of Miquella. Kitamura’s FromSoftware departure doesn’t rule out the possibility of her continuing to compose original soundtracks for the studio’s future titles, not least because she has outright stated that she’s looking to continue her gaming industry streak. “I would like to continue to express myself in game music,” the artist wrote on Twitter.
Kitamura’s most recent contributions to FromSoftware games are likely yet to be heard. Namely, the artist has long been a member of FreQuency, the studio’s internal band making music for theArmored Coreseries. Kitamura was the sole violinist of the group, which also includes some other FromSoftware veterans such as Kota Hoshino, Tsukasa Saitoh, and Kohichi Suenaga.
While the Japanese company has yet to confirm that, it’s plausible that FreQuency has once again been in charge of putting together a score forArmored Core 6: Fires of Rubicon. The game’s full track list will be revealed no later than August 25, when the next installment in the long-running vehicular combat series is scheduled to hit the market. The timing of Kitamura’s departure from the company also seems to suggest that she was involved in the creation of the game’s OST until the end of development. TheCollector’s Edition ofArmored Core 6will ship with a digital soundtrack, FromSoftware confirmed back in May.
