Last time we spoke, you told me that 95% of the team stuck together from Rebirth. Is that right?
Yeah, I think there are two factors. I think one big factor that contributed is that I was able to present the specific direction and approach we wanted to take for each of these titles from the early stages. We never really pivoted to a different direction after arriving at a specific approach we wanted to take. Thankfully, the team members had their full trust in me and the directions I presented to them. And I think we were able to build this mutual trust and resolve that we’ll complete all these games and take this to the finish line. For believing in me and carrying this to the finish line with me, I’m very grateful for them.
The second factor is that we had a loyal development team that stuck through for the whole trilogy. The benefit is that everyone is naturally aware of what they need to do. Most of the time at Square Enix, when the development of a title ends, the development team just disbands. Even if we need to transition to a different title, we have to start over with the process of gathering the team members and determining what their roles are going to be. The big benefit of the
Final Fantasy VII Remake series is that we never had to go through that process, so the transition was extremely quick.
Do you think that’s a lesson to other projects within Square Enix, to try to keep the team together?
I actually never had that idea before. In general, most development teams within Square Enix would just disband after a title. When we started on the next project, we’d start over again with the process of gathering necessary development members and figuring out what roles they will fill. The only exception is probably the
Final Fantasy XIV team led by Naoki Yoshida — that’s a huge team that’s been working on multiple expansions — and the
Remake series led by me.
I think it’s something that we should be mindful of as a company, as we go into titles we work on in the future. Because this did bring out a really huge benefit in terms of speeding up and having an efficient development timeline.
Those are two of the most successful projects at Square. I don’t think that’s a coincidence.
Yeah, you’re actually kind of spot on with that, because me and Yoshida, a lot is deferred to our discretion when it comes to our decision making. Our CEO puts a lot of trust in us, so I’m grateful for that too.
Have you thought about trying to keep your team together for whatever’s next?
I have an incredible amount of respect for all my team members. I’d very much love to leverage the know-how and insights we’ve gained from working on the
FFVII remake series. But when we think of it from a bigger perspective, the company, Square Enix as a whole, I do have to be mindful. Thankfully, the company puts a lot of trust into me and Naoki Yoshida, but if we were to have all the resources in my team, and Naoki Yoshida’s team, that staggers and hinders the growth of the company and the development team members as a whole. I do want to be mindful of that and give different opportunities to the talented development members that we have in our company. Personally, I would love to work with my team again for the next project. But we’ll see how it turns out.
What’s next? Do you want to do something completely original? Another Final Fantasy? Something small? Something big?
It’s not going to be a remake! As a team, I do think there’s an opportunity to work on a smaller scale, like a AA title, or a new
Final Fantasy title or even a new AAA franchise. I think all those would be good.