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

 

[the_randomizer]

@the_randomizer The game designer of FF 13 probably was involved in World of Final Fantasy as well.
Always one path directly to the goal and one other branch to an item at the end.
You have many different monsters that you encounter so it isn't that boring though.

It's just not for me, I prefer the ones from FFV through FXII *shrug* sorry.

 

[pasc]

Don't care for Square too much nowadays...

Seems they lost their way into money-grub-company-waters. Too bad.

 

[Bellebite2000]

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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.

He didn't resign, he was let go after the poor performance of FFXV.