Earlier today, Square Enix announced the release of Final Fantasy Type-0 HD on March 17, 2015. The demo for Final Fantasy XV will be bundled along with it. SE also debuted a couple of spiffy new trailers showcasing both games.
Additionally, it was announced that Tetsuya Nomura will no longer be director of Final Fantasy XV. Hajime Tabata, director of Final Fantasy Type-0, will take over that role. The move was apparently made to allow Nomura to focus on the development of “other highly anticipated titles”, like Kingdom Hearts III for example, which he is also directing.
“In reviewing our development structure, we have decided to assign Hajime Tabata as the new director for Final Fantasy XV. 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,” Square Enix CEO Yosuke Matsuda said about the switch. “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,” Matsuda added. “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.”
After the dust has been settled with this news, I don’t think a lot of the direction of the game was changed. It seems Nomura was more of a creative director while Tabata was focused on the gameplay aspects.
I guess with the plot, characters, lore, visuals, etc were finalized there wasn’t much for Nomura to actually direct so Square decided it was better use of his time to focus on the new KH. If FFXV turns out to be a overhauled type zero game with a seamless world, I think the game will turn out great.
also necrocomment
Necrocomments still count, and thanks for the little tidbit of info. I’m a little bummed that the latest reports say that the rest of your party is AI-controlled only, but I’m hoping SE can pull if off anyway.
Accepted <3