Hidetaka Suehiro

, known as SWERY or Swery65, is a Japanese video game director and writer. He was one of the founding members of the game development studio Access Games which is based in Osaka. His roles in the company included director, designer, and writer. His best-known work include the games Spy Fiction, Deadly Premonition, and D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die. He then left Access Games in 2016 and founded his own studio, White Owls Inc.

Early and personal life

Born from Buddhist monks, Swery lived in a temple in his childhood. He first got his monk license in high school, but only became a certified Buddhist monk in 2016 within Jōdo Shinshū Buddhism. Suehiro received a degree in film and video advertising at Osaka University of Arts. He decided against pursuing a career in the film industry, as he felt it was "very conservative". In November 2015, he announced that he would be taking a health-related break from game development in order to focus on recovering from reactive hypoglycemia. Swery is often called the DrinKING, posting numerous photos of him with alcoholic beverages. Sharapova, a stuffed toy monkey, is Swery's "partner". Swery brings him everywhere in his travels. He has a yakuza-styled back tattoo with his name and Sharapova at the center.

Career Swery decided to join the game industry after graduation and worked at various game companies including SNK. At SNK, he wrote the scenarios to Kizuna Encounter: Super Tag Battle, The Last Blade and The Last Blade 2. In January 2002 he was one of the founding members of Access Games. The first game he directed was the PlayStation 2 game Spy Fiction released in 2003. In 2014, he partnered with Microsoft to develop an Xbox One game titled D4: Dark Dreams Don't Die, which utilizes the Kinect motion-sensing device. The game was highlighted at GDC Next 2013 as one of their "GDC Next 10", where chosen developers give talks on the inspiration behind their upcoming games. In 2015, he gave a lecture in Osaka and at GDC 2015 regarding physical input in video games and the Kinect device. He also opened a booth along with Access Games at Penny Arcade Expo East 2015. On 31 October 2016, he announced his departure from Access Games. A new video game studio was later founded by Suehiro on 1 November 2016 as White Owls Inc. White Owls was formally revealed to the public on 15 January 2017. Suehiro is a good friend of fellow game creator Goichi Suda. Appearing on a livestream in 2019, the pair revealed they worked on a cancelled PlayStation VR game together, after which they decided to collaborate on a horror title. Just before the stream, Suda titled it Hotel Barcelona, and both envisioned a "light and easy to play" game for mobile platforms or Nintendo Switch. In 2023, it resurfaced as a slasher film parody action game for consoles and PC. Death Game Hotel was released for Meta Quest in July 2024, with Suehiro credited for the original concept. In 2024, Suehiro received the Trailblazer Award at IndieCade Festival 2024. Hotel Barcelona was released for PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S in September 2025.

Works