After giving birth to the Final Fantasy series and bringing it to success within Square, Hironobu Sakaguchi he decided in 2001 to leave the Japanese company. The same decision was not made by the current brand manager of the series, Yoshinori Kitasewhich to this day still plays a fundamental role within Square-Enix.
Kitase joined the main Final Fantasy series with Final Fantasy 5, for which he worked as a field planner, event planner and screenwriter, before directing Final Fantasy 6, 7 and 8, while Sakaguchi took on the role of producer again. Sakaguchi later left Square Enix (then simply Square) in 2001, deciding to pass the baton to Kitase. The latter explained in an interview with Simon Parkin's My Perfect Console podcast two main reasons why he chose not to leave Square Enix along with his mentor.
“At that time, around 2000, we were planning a lot of major Final Fantasy titles: 10, 11, 12, and so on,” he says. “These were all currently being planned and being discussed. And because Sakaguchi-san has been a mentor, someone who I have worked with and grown with within the company, obviously it was a very sad moment for me to witness his departure“.
The main reason why Kitase decided to stay in the company, therefore, is that he felt he had yet to leave his mark on Final Fantasy history: “I still felt like I was still forming my vision, so that was one of the reasons I felt like staying.”
His second reason, he explains, is that he wanted to continue being part of the Final Fantasy series so that Sakaguchi had an easier connection point if he ever decided to return. An eventuality that materialized in 2016 (albeit not as hoped by Final Fantasy fans) with the mobile game Mobius Final Fantasy in 2016, which featured a crossover event featuring characters from Terra Battle, a game created by Sakaguchi's new studio, Mistwalker.
Square-Enix's JRPG series is preparing to return to the scene with Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, available for preload on PS5.