FFXII producer leaves

By Corey Brotherson Published 2 August, 2005

Health complications for Matsuno.

Responding to earlier reports, it has been confirmed that Final Fantasy XII producer, Yasumi Matsuno, has stepped down from his position due to health issues.

Square Enix released an official statement revealing the long-time company producer has been persistently ill and will be replaced by numerous section leaders including Akitoshi Kawazu, previously known as a director for the SaGa series. However, Matsuno will remain as a supervisor for the game while he recovers.

"To all the fans that have been waiting for the release of Final Fantasy XII, I'm sorry that its development has been taking an extremely long time," said Matsuno in his official address. "I unfortunately will have to take a step away from the production scene, but the game is progressing in its development under the hands of excellent staffs, including [Hiroshi] Minagawa, [Hiroyuki] Ito, and [Jun] Akiyama."

We wish Matsuno a speedy recovery.

Final Fantasy XII will be released exclusively on PlayStation 2 in Japan on March 16th, 2006. Western versions will follow later that year, with no specific dates yet set.

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About Corey Brotherson

Read more articles from Corey by visiting the Corey Brotherson archive page.

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Comments (23) Latest comment 7 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • #1 7 years ago

    yeah, right.

  • Blerk #2 7 years ago

    /casts Curaga on Yasumi

    Did nobody else think of that? Tut. :-)

  • Teeth #3 7 years ago

    FFXII, surely.

  • Rahul #4 7 years ago

    I wouldn't refer to Matsuno as a "long-time company producer" for Square Enix considering he only joined in the late 90's when Squaresoft acquired Quest. Someone like Kawazu with 20+ years of experience and position on the board probably fits the term better.

    Despite widespread reports, Matsuno is not being replaced by Kawazu. Kawazu is, however, the executive producer for FFXII, but that's only because the series' prior executive producer, Hironobu Sakaguchi, obviously left when he started up Mistwalker. Matsuno's role on FFXII was that of director, script writer and scenario designer. His officially stated role has changed to "original creator" and the abovementioned, but the director's position has been taken over by Minagawa (one of Matsuno's team members from the Quest era) and Ito (who directed FFIX in 2000).

    It remains worth noting that FFXII has been in a state of near-completion for some time and therefore this late change in staff structure probably means little in terms of how it'll affect the state and style of the game we're presented with next year. It may just mean that, rather than waiting for Matsuno to fully recover and come back to complete the project, they've decided that it's in their best interests to get the game out of the door, even if he has to oversee it in a slightly more passive fashion.

    Here's the renewed list of staff as shown on the FF12 website:

    Executive Producer -- Akitoshi Kawazu
    Original creator/scenario design/script -- Yasumi Matsuno
    Directors -- Hiroyuki Ito, Hiroshi Minagawa
    Chief programmer -- Takashi Katano
    Art direction -- Hideo Minaba (lead), Isamu Kamikokuryou (background)
    Character design -- Akihiko Yoshida
    Battle design -- Kazutoyo Maehiro
    Event direction -- Jun Akiyama
    Movie director -- Eiji Fujii
    Supervisor -- Taku Murata
    Composer -- Hitoshi Sakimoto
    Single production/composition -- Nobuo Uematsu
    Lyrics/vocals/piano on single -- Angela Aki

  • RumpyStumpy #5 7 years ago

    i hope he dies

  • Wash #6 7 years ago

    i hope you die ;) ^^

  • RumpyStumpy #7 7 years ago

    i will don't worry

  • Blerk #8 7 years ago

    Me too!

    /hides phoenix down

  • Rizo #9 7 years ago

    I hope you mama dies

  • Peekaboo #10 7 years ago

    That ignore poster button is really handy ;-)

  • RumpyStumpy #11 7 years ago

    my mum is dead

  • mrpsb #12 7 years ago

    GNNNNARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH

  • Blerk #13 7 years ago

    Well... so much for yesterday's "decent conversation for a change". I knew it couldn't last. :-(

  • Tweakmonkey #14 7 years ago

    /casts Clearaga on thread

  • Artemus #15 7 years ago

    Development hell.

  • gaijin #16 7 years ago

    now all we need is WormsFan to turn up and say somethink about C*nker...

    /waits expectantly

  • Xerx3s #17 7 years ago

    Heh. Better than Conker then?

  • tpfkanep #18 7 years ago

    /Responding to earlier reports, it has been confirmed that Final Fantasy XII producer, Yasumi Matsuno, has stepped down from his position due to health issues./
    - He was last seen leaving a mental health clinic.

    /Square Enix released an official statement revealing the long-time company producer has been persistently ill and will be replaced by numerous section leaders including Akitoshi Kawazu, previously known as a director for the SaGa series./
    - Did this person work on Unlimited SaGa?

  • Mr_Brown #19 7 years ago

    Ha ha ha...so Yasumi isn't better than Conker now.

    But seriously, get some X-Potion down his neck...it'll restore his HP. Then he can go out and Level up and start producing Final Fanyasy XII again :)

  • Rahul #20 7 years ago

    Did this person work on Unlimited SaGa?

    Akitoshi Kawazu is the creator of the SaGa series and was the producer for all recent SaGa titles including widely trashed Unlimited SaGa and thusfar awkwardly-received remake Romancing SaGa: Minstrel's Song.

  • tenma #21 7 years ago

    I'm surprised that people are making jokes out of this. I think FF is a pretty over-rated series but that still doesn't mean that it's alright for me to make jokes about someone who's genuinely sick.

    Jesus.

  • Scimarad #22 7 years ago

    Holy Crap, Rahul! How do you know so much about Square-Enix?

  • draven #23 7 years ago

    final fantasy XII will look very dated next to all the shiny x360 games in 2006 :(.

  • WulfBane #24 7 years ago

    It's finally getting a release date, kudos for that. I hope Matsuno sen, recovers ASAP.

    I can understand now why this game has been delayed. Based on my own observations & working experience with Japanese, who prefer to work in clusters or teams, rather then as individual's.

    To have removed him earlier from the project would have caused chaos, it's a good thing that he gets to step down and take up a less demanding role.