In a new interview with Bloomberg, Hironobu Sakaguchi explained how he had reconnected with Square Enix for them to publish his latest game that he made under his own studio, Fantasian Neo Dimension.
Sakaguchi was at Square Enix for two decades, part of the dream team that started Final Fantasy, and ushered it through several console generations. He was there for the game’s breakout success in the Famicom in Japan, and then its industry shaking global success on the PlayStation.
But Sakaguchi’s exit was partly prompted by Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, an overly ambitious 2001 animated feature film that he directed. Of course, there are fans who will remember this film fondly, and there is merit to its groundbreaking CG visuals. But its box office gross of $ 85 million matched to the $ 137 million it cost to produce it, ended Square’s ambitions to break into Hollywood immediately.
Sakaguchi would leave Square Enix in 2003, essentially from burnout. He had grown tired of the administrative role he was now in, but there was also the film. Its failure harmed the company’s finances so much that it delayed Square’s eventual merger with Enix.
In an interview with Jason Schreier for Bloomberg, Sakaguchi explained that he deliberately avoided his former company, saying:
“I felt if I kept too close of a relationship, then it might actually affect how Square Enix treats Final Fantasy,”
Of course, we know from the benefit of hindsight that Square Enix would keep going, with even more successes and failure on the road, while Sakaguchi would find his groove again making new classics in Mistwalker like Blue Dragon and The Last Story.
Sakaguchi was still well regarded in his former company, with many of his former pupils now in executive roles themselves. It was Yoshinori Kitase in particular who asked Sakaguchi to appear for a Final Fantasy XIV event, and then he decided to play the game to acquainted with it. Again, in Sakaguchi’s words:
“It started off as a courtesy. Now I almost live in Final Fantasy XIV.”
Hilariously, he shared a story about how Mistwalker employees would log on to Final Fantasy XIV to remind him to log on to their meetings. He even told Schreier he was playing the game minutes before their interview started.
But it was because Sakaguchi liked Final Fantasy XIV so much that he started talking to Naoki Yoshida, its director. And it was Naoki who he approached about having Square Enix publish Fantasian outside Apple, to PC and consoles.
Sakaguchi said of Yoshi-P:
“He’s a very honest guy, very earnest, has a lot of respect for the Final Fantasy franchise. Knowing his character, it then put my conscience at ease, and I thought I could trust him with this project.”
As it turns out, Sakaguchi had been avoiding his former company so long that he had no idea how much people there still cared about him. Our final quote from this interview:
“I was a little bit concerned about how people would feel about working with me — perhaps they’ll have mixed feelings. It was actually quite a warm welcome. Once the news was announced,
I got tweets from a lot of current Square staff saying, ‘Welcome back, Sakaguchi-san.’ Some people I know, some I don’t. Everyone’s working hard toward a common goal.”
Fantasian Neo Dimension is coming in Winter 2024 to PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, and PC via Steam.
