Hajime Tabata quits Square Enix, multiple DLC episodes for FFXV cancelled

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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
 

Kioku

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Can't wait to see this new project and company.


lol So dramatic. OK, they may have lost someone great, but they still have talented people.


Must have been some great dlc. lol


Idk either.
Actually, it's not very dramatic when you consider the fact that I was talking about SQuenix as a whole. They haven't exactly been on top of things lately.
 

Osha

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Good, maybe they'll try to focus on more things, now. We need more titles like the Bravely titles and Octopath Traveler, and the audience agrees, considering how well these sold.
 
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whateverg1012

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The only game he made that I thought was a masterpiece was Crisis Core, so I'm not sad he's leaving. Does suck that the DLC is being shacked (won't be surprised if the PC version stops further development as well). Hope SE finds someone good to replace him.
 
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Cygen

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Wow, so the basically unfinished game will now never be finished? Only talking about the missing plothole fillers. Dont Own the game myself but my Brother in law does and he is a really hardcore FF fan and was really looking forward to Aranea und Lunafreya story content.

I know that the first 3(4?) DLC were part of some kind of season pass, what about these cancelled ones? Were they planned as free DLC or part of another/the old season pass? The lack of rage seems like it was not part of its own season pass. XD
 
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eriol33

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FF XV is the worst FF ever. Would have been better if they remove the title final fantasy and let it stands on its own. I personally like FF XIII Trilogy better. I am now playing FF XII zodiac age, and totally love it. I am glad I finally could appreciate FF XII
 

jt_1258

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wtf guys
tempers usually complains about ''incomplete game with dlc...''
now yall saying youll miss their dlc


personally the only franchise of Square Enix i play is the reboot of Tomb Raider
so i guess it wont affect me, right?
there are two kinds of dlc. what you mentioned where devs intentionally leave out content to sell as dlc and then there is the latter kind of dlc that is much more acceptable which being the kind where it's actually made after the games launch to add onto a complete game. the episodes were more reminiscent of expansion packs of yester year rather than micro pockets of content
 

Hakaisha

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Very unfortunate news to hear for Square Enix and FFXV fans.

Perhaps they decided all the time and money being put into FFXV's DLC would be better spent on a new game? Whatever the case may be, I wish Tabata-san well on his new chapter in life.

I really enjoyed Final Fantasy XV for what it was. It wasn't a perfect game by any means, but it still had a certain warmth to it I haven't felt in a Final Fantasy game for quite some time. I never did delve into any of the DLC after I finished it.

I'd personally love to see more games like Octopath Traveler come from Square Enix. Like, smaller games that can actually be developed and and completed in a shorter amount of time on the side, while their larger projects (FF7: Remake, FFXVI, KH3) are being worked on. A new Chrono game made with a similar visual style to Octopath would be great, imo.
 
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FutureAudio

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ff13 trilogy was much better in gameplay and story. Kingsglaive meant nothing because FF15 is just an incomplete concept and Advent Children didnt have closure.

AND THIS..

I was just referring to it in the aspects of success. And for me, an unfinished story is not a bad story. In fact I think ff7 was kind of unfinished as the ending wasn't completely transparent in what happened to the characters after.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

The last Final Fantasy game that I enjoyed was FFIX Don't like any of the stuff they have released since FFX. And I also hate payable DLC which SE seems to put in almost every new game.
Are you me?
 
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Lazyboss

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This is a good news, this guy doesn't have the talent to screw with final fantasy, all he did is an unfinished game full of DLCs and advirtis it like it's the best game ever for many years.
You can see his loyalty to the game by leaving it without finish the DLC to start his own.
 

the_randomizer

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grandia was not square or enix

It is now, sadly.
I guess this explains the 33 million loss headline from before.
I feel bad for everyone who was looking forward to the DLC but at the same time... it's been 2 years since FF15 released. Let the game go already.



Grandia is developed by Game Arts, not SE and we are getting a HD remaster of the first two games on the Switch & Steam soon.

Too bad the PC port of Grandia 2 is a mess, audio sync issues and other glitches galore.

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Actually, it's not very dramatic when you consider the fact that I was talking about SQuenix as a whole. They haven't exactly been on top of things lately.

I hate to be that guy, but Square Enix was superior before they merged and was Squaresoft and Enix.


Edit: Whoops, sorry about the double ><
 
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noctis90210

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This is the game with the worst development history.
Developed in 2006 for ps3, changed title during 2012 and announced for 8th gen console, waited until 2016 release. A total of 10 years from development to release date. Acceptable reason to wait if they continue to develop all DLC, but what happen is the opposite.

The story will end unfinished.

Tabata should consider staying atleast another year for the fans to experience the complete game. For sure Hajime got a lot of money for the games he developed, but in the end when he sees lumiose production income becomes low, personal choices comes in without considering what tha fans want.

Hope final fantasy vii remake will not follow on what happen to xv.
 

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Why would they cancel the upcoming DLC for FFXV? Didn't they say that they were making more specifically because the game sold like, a bazillion copies so it was obvious to pump out more content for such a high seller?
 

PiracyForTheMasses

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Final Fantasy hasnt been Final Fantasy for years. In my opinion 10 was the last Final Fantasy game, after that they completely changed everything that made Final Fantasy what it was. Every release since then has not been a Final Fantasy game, they just tried to capitalize on the name.
 
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Pook and Pie

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I still haven't beaten XV. It's the one NON-MMO FF I haven't completed.

It's just boring and the story presentation is somehow more ass-backwards than XIII, and I thought it was nigh impossible to do storytelling more obtuse than XIII.
 

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Final Fantasy hasnt been Final Fantasy for years. In my opinion 10 was the last Final Fantasy game, after that they completely changed everything that made Final Fantasy what it was. Every release since then has not been a Final Fantasy game, they just tried to capitalize on the name.

Tabata's to blame. He was kind of a cancer to Final Fantasy franchise:

"1999 Monster Rancher 2 PlayStation Event director
1999 Deception III: Dark Delusion PlayStation Event director
2004 Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VII Mobile Director
2007 Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII PlayStation Portable Director
2008-10 Kingdom Hearts Coded Mobile Co-director
2010 The 3rd Birthday PlayStation Portable Director
2011 Final Fantasy Type-0 PlayStation Portable Director, original scenario design
2014 Final Fantasy Agito iOS, Android Producer
2015 Final Fantasy Type-0 HD PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows Producer, director
2015 Final Fantasy: Brave Exvius iOS, Android Special thanks
2016 Final Fantasy XV PlayStation 4, Xbox One Director
2017 King's Knight: Wrath of the Dark Dragon iOS, Android Special thanks
2017 Itadaki Street: Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita Special thanks
2017 Final Fantasy Dimensions II iOS, Android Special thanks
2017 Monster of the Deep: Final Fantasy XV PlayStation 4 (PlayStation VR) Producer
2018 Dissidia Final Fantasy NT PlayStation 4 Special thanks
2018 Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition"
Source:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hajime_Tabata
 
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