Shortly after Square Enix announced major losses due to their subsidiary Luminous Productions, another important announcement was made. The studio's head, and director of Square Enix titles such as The Third Birthday, Crisis Core: FFVII, and Final Fantasy XV, Hajime Tabata, stated that he had resigned from both Square Enix and Luminous Productions. He plans to go on to create his own company, and already has a project that he'll be working on in the future. Due to the resignation, three of the four planned Final Fantasy XV DLC side stories will be cancelled. Episodes Aranea, Lunafreya, and Noctis will no longer be in development, while Episode Ardyn is still scheduled for a March 2019 release date.


Tabata was part of Square Enix since his employment there in 2004, where he worked on his first project, Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII. Additionally, the multiplayer standalone DLC Comrades is still on track, and slated for a release on December 12, for $9.99.

To everyone watching the program,
Hello, this is Tabata.
It’s almost going to be 2 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 31st, 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.
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 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 you fans.
I would like to thank everyone who continues to support Final Fantasy XV and those who have also supported myself personally.
Hajime Tabata

 

[Hyborix3]

Seriously....!?!

FF XIII trilogy says "hi" ;-P

Your point? The characters and even gameplay actually made me love and appreciate FFXIII even more after playing XV

 

[CallmeBerto]

@HaloEliteLegend

I was actually looking forward to the DLC >.<

 

[SS4]

Considering SE made nothing of interest since FF X and that the guy in charge of making some of the only half decent stuff since then has left . . . well, things don't look too good for them lol
Are they gonna go the way of Konami and shift towards mobile and pachinko for salvation lol

 

[MasterJ360]

If it wasn't for him the game wouldn't have been completed, let alone pretty good irregardless of the cluster-**** Nomura left it in when it was still known as Versus XIII.

Honestly this wasn't a game that NEEDED DLC (at least paid DLC), it's a shame it couldn't have been feature complete (story wise) when released. As it was, I enjoyed it, took the time to get a platinum (which I never do) and immersed myself in the game lore. (I think I played it and LoZ: BotW back to back)



Seriously....!?!

FF XIII trilogy says "hi" ;-P

Idk 15 honestly made 13 look better both stories were linear, but damn it 13 had character development from the start to end. You had an attachment to them and could relate to their issues.
Eh 15 we had to buy season passes just to identify the background of the characters in our party

 

[Bedel]

Press FF to pay respect.

 

[Wuigi]

If you preordered the deluxe edition with the movie you had to pay 130€ for a somewhat complete experience.
Or you can buy the steam version instead of the DLC and still have spent 115€ in total.
You're screwed anyways because you paid more than 100€ for a game that is the most dumbed down and empty version of a Final Fantasy game so far.
I enjoyed World of Final Fantasy a lot more even though it is padded out like s*** but it's still a complete game with new and interesting concepts.

 

[gameboy]

its kinda shows whats gonna happen with Final Fantasy 7 Episodes Remake isn't it? Same thing happened with TellTale. People will play the first episode and abandon or just forget about the game later.

SE needed to make the full FF7r game then target the first 'holiday' of the ps5 console launch

 

[HaloEliteLegend]

@HaloEliteLegend

I was actually looking forward to the DLC >.<

Ikr? It would've filled up more plot holes and focused in on characters that didn't get much screen time or development. Now that's probably all lost to the void. Would've "completed" the game more.

I'm kinda just shocked because they made a big deal about the DLC, that there'd be an alternate ending, that they wanted the game to be an ongoing product shaped by fans, etc. Now all of a sudden it's cancelled and I guess it's time to look forward to FF16?

 

[WiiUBricker]

I, Hajime Tabata, will be resigning from Luminous Productions and the Square Enix group as of October 31st, 2018.

Wow, talking about late news reporting.

 

[Frankbel]

I will never play FFXV, I do not like the drawing style of characters.
I will not miss any additional unwanted content.
Last FF is IX.

 

[Frexxos]

FF15 is a b.s. game, worst Final Fantasy made

I personally as a big big fan of the series from the beginning would say, this was since final fantasy 10 the first good one again... I would say XIII was much worse

I really enjoyed this whole game and the dlc with ignis was perfect. I know all the bromance could be a little less, but it is a final "fantasy" game and when you sink in in that world - it was (for me) a really good game. Especially the soundtrack. When the "stand by me" played it was "mehhh - gaaay" but when this song playing again at the end of the game.... Damn that really got me! And I really felt with this world etc.

For me - I don't need more DLC's. The story is for me closed and I am happy with it.

 

[Pluupy]

good the less FF the better they can start focusing on more better franchises like dragonquest and grandia and maybe even resurrect saga frontier.

Wew lad.

Final Fantasy XIV practically funds Square Enix and you say silly shit like that. Thank you for the laugh.

 

[julianuf]

Good riddance. Funny that one person leaving is an auto cancel everything.

Best of luck to him and his future endeavors.

 

[Pluupy]

I will never play FFXV, I do not like the drawing style of characters.
I will not miss any additional unwanted content.
Last FF is IX.

The fuck? ...Final Fantasy XV is a realistic game.

 

[Noctosphere]

The fuck? ...Final Fantasy XV is a realistic game.

love your sig

 

[eriol33]

FF XV is the worst Final fantasy ever. I don't really care about the game anymore.

 

[Frankbel]

The fuck? ...Final Fantasy XV is a realistic game.

That's why I will perhaps play the pocket version.

 

[Justinde75]

Ouch that hurts for people who wanted to see ff15 be finished. The game is super unfinished and only the dlc gave some hope to get a complete experience.

 

[Kawaii]

I love FFXV story plot to be honest. Its definitely not well delivered in the game. But just diving into the lores, the story about kings struggle and conflict, both noctis and ardyn is awesome. Was looking forward for the DLCs. Too bad

 

[gameboy]

I personally as a big big fan of the series from the beginning would say, this was since final fantasy 10 the first good one again... I would say XIII was much worse

I really enjoyed this whole game and the dlc with ignis was perfect. I know all the bromance could be a little less, but it is a final "fantasy" game and when you sink in in that world - it was (for me) a really good game. Especially the soundtrack. When the "stand by me" played it was "mehhh - gaaay" but when this song playing again at the end of the game.... Damn that really got me! And I really felt with this world etc.

For me - I don't need more DLC's. The story is for me closed and I am happy with it.

you should try final fantasy 9, everything about that one is superb