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[daTRUballin]

Not many people seem to know about Joel Hochberg, but he was a very important figure in Rare's history and helped the founders Tim and Chris Stamper shape the company into what it is today. Rare had a U.S. division called Rare Coin-It based in Miami, Florida and Hochberg was in charge of it and he mostly seemed to deal with the business side of things at Rare. He was also instrumental in helping pave the way for Rare's historical and lucrative relationship with Nintendo as he was the one that imported a Famicom from Japan for the Stampers so they could reverse engineer the system and impress Nintendo. He was involved with Rare until the early years of Microsoft's relationship with the studio.

As a huge fan of Rare, I felt his passing deserved to be acknowledged as I'm sure many here grew up on Rare's games as I have and I know that there are many fans of the studio on here. R.I.P. Mr. Hochberg.

More details about his involvement with Rare and the game industry in general can be found in the source below.

https://www.gamedeveloper.com/culture/obituary-joel-hochberg-ex-rare-president-has-passed-away

 

[kanjobazooie]

RIP. I recognize his name from the games credits.

Condolences to his family and friends.

 

[EviLore]

Thanks for letting us know. RIP Joel.

 

[GreatnessRD]

May he rest peacefully. Condolences to his family, friends and fans.

 

[Skyfox]

R.I.P.

The generation that influenced my life is fading fast sadly.

 

[daTRUballin]

R.I.P.

The generation that influenced my life is fading fast sadly.

That's exactly what I've been thinking about too.

My grandma is the same age he was. She's getting quite up there in years.

 

[Elder Legend]

RIP.

 

[Hobbygaming]

RIP Joel

 

[Max_Po]

Rest in Peace Joel

 

[AlteredForms]

RIP man. I've never played Rare's games as I never had an N64, but even I could appreciate their greatness.

 

[Darchaos]

RIP.

 

[ProgenitorCastle]

RIP.

 

[Thabass]

RIP Joel, thank you for giving us so many awesome memories as a kid.