Hajime Tabata

Hajime Tabata (田畑 端, Tabata Hajime, born May 5, 1971) is a Japanese game director, the previous Luminous Productions COO and Head of Studio who formerly worked for Square Enix and currently the CEO of JP Games.

Hajime Tabata
田畑 端
Tabata at Lucca Comics & Games 2016
Born (1971-05-05) May 5, 1971
Iwate Prefecture, Japan
OccupationCEO of JP Games

He was the Head of Square Enix's Business Division 2[1] and part of the Final Fantasy Committee that is tasked with keeping the franchise's releases and content consistent.[2]

Tabata resigned from Luminous Productions and Square Enix Group on October 31, 2018.[3]

Career

When Tabata was in Middle school, he played a historical role-playing game made by Koei and first imagined how much fun it would be to make his own game.[4] In his last year of university, he applied for jobs in the video game industry and in other media arts such as documentaries, television and film.[4] He worked at several different video game publishers prior to his being hired at Square Enix, which he said gave him experience making action games, arcade games, and role-playing games.[4]

Square Enix

In the aftermath of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake, the international outpouring of support for Japan was paralleled at Square Enix by fan letters about the then-upcoming release of Type-0, and encouraged Tabata to make something special for the fans and those living through difficult times.[5]

He became the director of Final Fantasy XV, taking over from Tetsuya Nomura in December 2013,[6] a change that was announced in September the following year.[7] He used to be co-director on the project.[5] During his work on Final Fantasy XV, Tabata joked about his busy schedule, mentioning he regularly got only three hours sleep.[5] Tabata, whose previous experience was with portable gaming devices, said that he was excited to work on console systems and wanted to "help players dive even deeper into their experiences".[5]

Tabata formerly served as producer for Final Fantasy XV downloadable content.[8][9][10] His work on the downloadable content was planned to continue into 2019.[11] He and staff within Square Enix Business Division 2 were also working on a new intellectual property targeting the next-generation of consoles.[12][1] Development for this project began in earnest in 2018, after previously only having a small team of 20-30 people assigned to it.[13][12]

In March 2018, Tabata created a new Tokyo game studio for Square Enix called Luminous Productions, which consists of several key members from the Final Fantasy XV team.[14] He was the COO and Head of Studio for Luminous Productions.[15]

Tabata resigned from Luminous Productions and Square Enix Group on October 31, which was confirmed by Square Enix on November 7. In addition, 3 of the 4 DLCs for Final Fantasy XV were cancelled.[3]

JP Games, Inc.

With the announcement of his resignation from Square Enix, Tabata began starting his own company, JP Games, Inc., which was launched in January 2019, to create a new project.[16] The first project, The Pegasus Dream Tour, a game themed around the 2020 Summer Paralympics, was released in June 2021 for iOS and Android.[17]

Works
YearTitlePlatform(s)Credit(s)
1994Captain Tsubasa 5: Hasha no Shōgō CampioneSuper NintendoData work
1999Monster Rancher 2PlayStationEvent director[18]
1999Deception III: Dark DelusionPlayStationEvent director[18]
2004Before Crisis: Final Fantasy VIIMobileDirector, concept
2005Last Order: Final Fantasy VIIAnimeSpecial thanks
2006 Monotone Mobile Director
2007Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VIIPlayStation PortableDirector
2008-10Kingdom Hearts CodedMobileCo-director
2010The 3rd BirthdayPlayStation PortableDirector
2011Final Fantasy Type-0PlayStation PortableDirector, original scenario design[19]
2014Final Fantasy AgitoiOS, AndroidProducer
2015Final Fantasy Type-0 HDPlayStation 4, Xbox One, WindowsProducer, director
2015Final Fantasy: Brave ExviusiOS, AndroidSpecial thanks
2016Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XVFilmProducer
2016Final Fantasy XVPlayStation 4, Xbox OneDirector
2017Mobius Final FantasyiOS, Android, WindowsCollaborative event support
2017King's Knight: Wrath of the Dark DragoniOS, AndroidSpecial thanks
2017Itadaki Street: Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy 30th AnniversaryPlayStation 4, PlayStation VitaSpecial thanks
2017Final Fantasy Dimensions IIiOS, AndroidSpecial thanks
2017Monster of the Deep: Final Fantasy XVPlayStation 4 (PlayStation VR)Producer
2018Dissidia Final Fantasy NTPlayStation 4Special thanks
2018Final Fantasy XV: Pocket EditioniOS, Android, WindowsProducer
2018Final Fantasy XV Windows EditionWindowsProducer
2018Final Fantasy XV: Pocket Edition HDPlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo SwitchProducer
2021The Pegasus Dream TouriOS, AndroidProducer, Director

References
  1. "第2ビジネス・ディビジョン". Square Enix. 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-07-21. Retrieved 2016-05-31.
  2. "What Does Square Enix's Final Fantasy Committee Do?". Siliconera. March 25, 2014. Archived from the original on March 6, 2016.
  3. Makuch, Eddie. "Final Fantasy 15 DLC Canceled, Director Hajime Tabata Leaves; Square Enix Posts $33 Million Loss". GameSpot. CBS Interactive Inc. Retrieved 8 November 2018.
  4. Seto, Dan (2014-11-12). "Who is Hajime Tabata?". Square Enix Europe. Retrieved 2016-02-13.
  5. Farokhmanesh, Megan (2015-01-21). "Overworked but happy: The man behind Final Fantasy 15 and Type-0". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2016-03-15. Retrieved 2016-02-12.
  6. Sato (April 5, 2016). "Final Fantasy XV's Release Date Was Already Decided Back In 2013". Siliconera. Archived from the original on April 19, 2016.
  7. Sinan, Kubba (2014-09-18). "Nomura no longer directing Final Fantasy 15, new TGS trailer [update]". Engadget. Archived from the original on 2015-12-22. Retrieved 2015-10-18.
  8. "Final Fantasy XV Comrades Final Boss/End Credits Part 2". YouTube. November 27, 2017. Archived from the original on April 30, 2018.
  9. "Episode Gladiolus - Ending and Credits Final Fantasy XV 15". YouTube. March 29, 2017. Archived from the original on April 30, 2018.
  10. "Episode Ignis Credits 1". YouTube. December 13, 2017. Archived from the original on April 30, 2018.
  11. Sato (February 23, 2018). "Final Fantasy XV Will Get Four New Episodes Through 2019 To "Complete The FFXV Universe"". Siliconera. Archived from the original on February 25, 2018.
  12. Robinson, Martin (October 11, 2017). "The past, present and future of Final Fantasy 15". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on October 11, 2017.
  13. Sato (December 27, 2017). "Japanese Developers Share Their 2018 Ambitions And Teasers". Siliconera. Archived from the original on January 28, 2018.
  14. Ruppert, Liana (March 28, 2018). "Square Enix Reveals New AAA Game Studio". ComicBook.com. Archived from the original on March 29, 2018. Retrieved March 29, 2018.
  15. "Square Enix Holdings Announces a New Development Studio LUMINOUS PRODUCTIONS". Square Enix. Archived from the original on 2018-03-27. Retrieved 2018-04-08.
  16. Valentine, Rebekah (December 3, 2018). "Hajime Tabata announces new studio, JP Games". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved December 3, 2018.
  17. Gregson-Wood, Stephen (July 1, 2021). "The Pegasus Dream Tour interview: Hajime Tabata, former director at Square Enix, discusses creating the world's first official Paralympics game". PocketGamer.com. Retrieved September 23, 2021.
  18. "Hajime Tabata Credits". MobyGames. Archived from the original on 2015-10-16. Retrieved 2015-10-15.
  19. "Spec". Square Enix. Archived from the original on 2017-01-18. Retrieved 2017-02-23.
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