Final Fantasy XV Director Hajime Tabata Leaves Square Enix - News
by William D'Angelo , posted on 08 November 2018 / 3,125 Views
Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata, who is also the Luminous Productions COO and head of studio, announced he has left Square Enix and Luminous Productions.
Read the complete message from Tabata below:
Hello, this is Tabata.
It’s almost going to be two whole years since the release of Final Fantasy XV. I honestly believe the reason we were able to get this far is because of all you loyal fans. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Today, I have a personal announcement to make to all of you. I, Hajime Tabata, will be resigning from Luminous Productions and the Square Enix Group as of October 31, 2018.
I was able to gain so much experience with my time at Square Enix. Every title I was able to be a part of means a lot to me. However, Final Fantasy XV stood out from that group as it was a special project for me which I went all-in on.
Therefore, I decided to take this opportunity to officially announce my departure from Final Fantasy XV to all the fans who have supported the title across the globe.
In regards to my next endeavors and near future, I have a project that I truly wish to solidify as my next challenge after Final Fantasy XV. For that reason, I have decided to leave my current position and start my own business in order to achieve my goal.
As production of “Episode Ardyn” continues and Luminous Productions works on new projects, I felt that it was time for me to hand over the torch to the next generation group of talented and trustworthy colleagues and believe that they will create something amazing.
From this day on, I will cheer on and support Square Enix and Luminous Productions together with all of you fans.
I would like to thank everyone who continue to support Final Fantasy XV and those who have also supported myself personally.
—Hajime Tabata
Thanks Gematsu.
A life-long and avid gamer, William D'Angelo was first introduced to VGChartz in 2007. After years of supporting the site, he was brought on in 2010 as a junior analyst, working his way up to lead analyst in 2012. He has expanded his involvement in the gaming community by producing content on his own YouTube channel and Twitch channel dedicated to gaming Let's Plays and tutorials. You can contact the author at wdangelo@vgchartz.com or on Twitter @TrunksWD.
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Guess they found a fall guy for that $33 million loss they just posted
@KLAMarine "Poor performance in the mobile and PC sector. Net sales, operating income and ordinary income all suffered significant drops. Square Enix's Digital Entertainment segment experienced decreases as well." And there's some suspecting that the new Tomb Raider isn't doing so well.
i remember reading a while back that he was looking foward to moving on from Final Fantasy XV so he probably left because Square wanted even more content made out of it.
No matter how you feel about FFXV, this is for the better. Would you rather see FF games almost identical in style and gameplay to XV (think the FFXIII sequels) or a new entry that stands on it's own, even if they keep the open world aspect?
unexpected. But now I wonder who will be director for FFXVI
Bye Felicia
Essay Pro