Tetsuya Nomura steps down as Final Fantasy XV director

By Erren Van Duine on September 17, 2014 at 9:05 PM

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In addition to a new trailer and an official confirmation that a demo is coming alongside Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, Square Enix has today announced that Tetsuya Nomura is no longer the Director of Final Fantasy XV, replaced by Hajime Tabata, Director of games such as Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy Type-0 and Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep.

Tabata was announced to be the new co-director of the game shortly after its E3 2012 re-reveal, but Square Enix has now seen fit to elevate him to the sole director, essentially removing Nomura from the project, leaving him free to shift focus across to another of his games, Kingdom Hearts III.

“In reviewing our development structure, we have decided to assign Hajime Tabata as the new director for Final Fantasy XV,” Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda said in a statement.

“Currently, Tabata and the entire development team are working, whole-heartedly, towards completing the production of Final Fantasy XV and ensuring the delivery of the highest quality Final Fantasy title to date. We invite every one of our fans to view the fruits of our labor through Final Fantasy XV’s demo, and promise to present a game that further surpasses expectations when the finished product is released.

“As the director of Final Fantasy XV, Tetsuya Nomura has mainly worked on the original concept for the story and universe in addition to creating the characters. Hereafter, he will be focusing his efforts on the production of titles that can only be made possible by Nomura, himself, and delivering products that exceed the quality of past titles, starting with another one of his representative projects, Kingdom Hearts III. Square Enix will continue to work on these titles with the best staff formation in an effort to deliver them to everyone as soon as possible and appreciates your continued support.”

If Nomura’s replacement is simply him moving on to Kingdom Hearts III or a result of Final Fantasy XV’s somewhat troubled ten-year development isn’t plain. He remains with Square Enix, however, and will continue to “focus his full efforts as the director of other highly anticipated titles, including Kingdom Hearts III.”

In a 2012 interview with us, Nomura described Noctis as the latest one of his ‘children.’ In this instance it isn’t that FF15 hero Noctis is finally leaving home – but rather than Nomura is handing care of him on.

We’ll bring you more on FF15 and the rest from TGS as it happens. Stick with us.