Hironobu Sakaguchi at Final Fantasy XIV Fanfest

Final Fantasy Creator Hironobu Sakaguchi Is Working on a New Game

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Published: December 30, 2023 1:25 PM

Hironobu Sakaguchi is known as the father of the Final Fantasy series, but he has been working on several original games since he left Square Enix. Now, he's at work on a new one once again. 

In a year-end group interview on the Japanese media outlet Famitsu, Sakaguchi-san reveals that he has started working on a brand new title at his company, Mistwalker Corporation. 

Specifically, he has completed the plot and he's now writing the scenario. He's working hard to inject fun into it at this early stage,  

Fantasian Screenshot
A screenshot from Hironobu Sakaguchi's latest game, Fantasian. Featured image courtesy of Square Enix

At the moment, Sakaguchi-san did not provide further information on this new game, which follows the JRPG Fantasian for Apple Arcade, which received a lot of praise from critics and fans. 

Of course, he also mentions that he's still playing Final Fantasy XIV, so we can infer that he's working on the new game in his free time from his real full-time job, which is playing Square Enix's MMORPG. 

Yes. That's a joke. I'm fairly proud of it. 

Sakaguchi-san recently appeared at the Final Fantasy XIV Fan Festival in London, where he flatly refused the idea of working on the MMORPG as a guest creator, since that would ruin his enjoyment of the game. 

Recently, he also played and praised Square Enix's latest Final Fantasy title, Final Fantasy XVI

Before working on Fantasian, Sakaguchi-san spent some time on free-to-play mobile games including the Terra Battle series and the spin-off Terra Wars.

He had a plan to release a game within that franchise on consoles, but it never materialized.

Following his departure from Square Enix in 2003, he worked on many classic JRPGs, including Blue Dragon, Lost Odyssey, and The Last Story. 

I'm fairly sure I'm not the only one who would like to see him return to working on consoles, but for now, we'll have to wait and see.

Giuseppe Nelva Profile Picture
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Started as News Editor at TechRaptor in January 2023, following over 20 years of professional experience in gaming journalism both on print media and on the… More about Giuseppe