Director of Final Fantasy XV and head of Luminous Productions, Hajime Tabata has departed both companies as of October 31st.
During a recent Final Fantasy XV special live stream, Square Enix dropped several bombs on its unsuspecting audience. The first was announcing that Hajime Tabata (the well-known director of Final Fantasy XV) will be leaving both Square Enix and Luminous Productions, of which he was COO and head.
Coupled with this bombshell was another: canceling three of the four Final Fantasy XV DLC episodes.
Tabata’s full departure message from the live stream can be read 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
Tabata leaving the company coincides with Square Enix recently reporting a $33 million extraordinary loss due to the company’s subsidiary Luminous Productions shifting focus to the production of AAA titles.
Don’t let the door hit you on the way out.
No more gay boy-band FF s♥♥t.
+1,000,000
Best news of the day. He is just not made to be a director or any leading role whatsoever.
He took FF15 out of Nomura’s baby hands and turned it into a shipable product in 2 years time that reviewed okay. That is a fucking feat! He should be commended.
“shipable”
If a full price unfinished early access game with 50+ patches and multiple season passes filled with nothing but fetch quests is shipable to you then you are the reason why FF games get worse with every game.
This whole “b-but at least he made something” mindset is just retarded. Really shows that FF fanboys are the worst fanboys out there.
FF15 was a bigger success than it had any right to be. Tabata took the lump of s♥♥t that Nomura had slowly been excreting for 7 years and shaped it into a game-shaped object people would pay money for and turn a profit. That’s the impressive part, given what he started with.
He made sure it got done and pushed it out of the door, basically. That’s what a good producer does. Of course it would still be a piece of s♥♥t but most people didn’t even notice.
at the end of the day a lump of s♥♥t is still just a lump of s♥♥t no matter how you shape it.
Errr… Director?
Now now don’t lump all FF fanboys together it isn’t right to do that. What you are talking about are Post-FF13 FF Fanboys. A lot of the fanboys of the early FF games share your point of view on the current state of the Final Fantasy Licence while still being Fanboys of the Pre-FF13 games.
FF became s♥♥t way before FF13 my friend. Enix ruined Squaresoft, anything post-FF9 became linear, cookie-cutter grinds with the only retained value being the signature music scores.
The only exception for me was FF11, one of the few MMO’s that didn’t leave a bad taste in my mouth.
You would rather wait for 10+ years for a game that may or may not be out for the current gen console? Well good luck if you are.
SU fans would like a word with your misogynistic ass
> FF15
> Shippable
Pick one
I think you mean “sheepable”
Shipped that pile of s♥♥t.
he turned FF franchise into shitty one.
And nothing of value was lost.
Maybe now we can all go back pretending the trainwreck, named FF 15, never happened.
It was good. Go cry in your turn based corner.
He can’t cry yet. He’s waiting for his turn.
Enjoying your heal loop too much?
it was shuitty and horrible
Too busy killing superbosses in XV with my eyes closed because you literally can’t die and can use unlimited items at any time while time stops.
Finally the trash boi left SE, soon it will be Yoshi-P, maybe next time we’ll get a good FF.
You nuts? FFXIV ARR is the single good FF since FFX… Heavensward was just bloody awesome
Dafuq you tallking about? Yoshida is not from SE, what a moron
Finally, maybe we can get the FF6 thru 9 & tactics vibe back. DQ11 shows there’s still deep-seated demand for classic JRPG’s on the global market.