Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi talks about re-partnering with Square Enix


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Hironobu Sakaguchi, the game designer who created the popular Final Fantasy series but left the series about 20 years ago, spoke to Bloomberg in an interview about his company Mistwalker's efforts to release the RPG 'FANTASIAN' for PCs and home consoles.

'Final Fantasy' Creator Hironobu Sakaguchi Reunites With Square Enix - Bloomberg
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/newsletters/2024-07-03/-final-fantasy-creator-hironobu-sakaguchi-reunites-with-square-enix

Final Fantasy Creator Sakaguchi Doesn't Want to Go Back to Its Previous Franchises
https://wccftech.com/final-fantasy-creator-sakaguchi-doesnt-want-to-go-back-to-its-previous-franchises/

Sakaguchi developed the Final Fantasy series while working at Square Co., Ltd. (now Square Enix). The series was popular not only in Japan but also overseas, and supported Square in the 1990s. However, after the movie 'Final Fantasy' made in 2001 did not do well at the box office, Square suffered losses and Sakaguchi resigned from his position, taking responsibility.

Regarding this matter, Bloomberg reported, 'After rising to the top of Square's management team, Sakaguchi felt growing frustration and decided to resign. He said he personally wanted to be more creative.'

It has now been revealed that Sakaguchi will be teaming up with Square Enix for the first time in about 20 years. In an interview with Bloomberg, Sakaguchi said, 'It's like going to your high school reunion after 20 years. Certainly, a lot of things change after 23 years, and the more time passes, the more beautiful the memories become. Unpleasant or bitter memories gradually fade and become a thing of the past.'

At the time of writing, Sakaguchi heads his own game company, Mistwalker. Through a partnership between Mistwalker and Square Enix, Mistwalker's game app ' FANTASIAN ' will be ported to home consoles and released as ' FANTASIAN Neo Dimension ' in winter 2024.



According to Sakaguchi, he gradually distanced himself from Square Enix because he felt that if he maintained too close a relationship with the company, it might affect how Square Enix treated Final Fantasy. However, as Final Fantasy reached important milestones such as its 30th anniversary, Square Enix began to offer him opportunities to participate in panel discussions and retrospectives.

Sakaguchi also said that he regularly chats and eats with Naoki Yoshida, producer and director of Final Fantasy XIV and a director and executive officer of Square Enix at the time of writing. One of the topics he talked about was the porting of FANTASIAN.

According to Sakaguchi, FANTASIAN was well-received when it was released for Apple's subscription service 'Apple Arcade,' but some customers did not want to play it on the small screen of a smartphone, so Sakaguchi and his team were looking for a way to develop FANTASIAN on a new platform. When Sakaguchi, who had such concerns, talked to Yoshida about wanting to develop it on a new platform and considering publishing it in-house, Yoshida responded by saying, 'What if Square Enix published it?'


by University of Hawai'i–West O'ahu

'He is a very honest and serious person, and has great respect for the Final Fantasy franchise. I knew his personality, so I thought I could entrust this project to him,' said Sakaguchi.

Sakaguchi also said that he was 'a little worried about how people would feel about working with me,' but in fact, immediately after the partnership with Square Enix was announced, he received messages from many current staff members saying, 'Welcome back, Sakaguchi-san.'

When asked if Sakaguchi, who has reunited with Square Enix, would ever work on a Final Fantasy series again, he stated that he had 'changed from being a creator to being a consumer,' and stated that he would not be working on the series again. Incidentally, Sakaguchi himself is apparently obsessed with Final Fantasy XIV.




Sakaguchi also said that he is not interested in porting Mistwalker's older titles, such as 'Lost Odyssey' and 'Blue Dragon,' to modern platforms, but expressed a desire to revive 'Terra Battle,' which was released in 2014. He also said that he is finalizing the story of Mistwalker and the new title.

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