Wan Hazmer, the Malaysian developer that was part of the team behind Final Fantasy XV and lead designer on Monster Of The Deep Final Fantasy XV, has officially announced his departure from the Japanese developers Square Enix. This was revealed during a panel held at the annual Level Up KL, the conference for South East Asian developers.

Hazmer’s next plan is to start up his own development studio here in Malaysia, in conjunction with MDEC and Level Up Inc sometime this December.

It’s an interesting move that would certainly benefit the local development scene. Hazmer has worked at Square Enix for seven years and his experience working in AAA games should sure be a good asset for the new studio.