Tanaka Leaves Square Enix.

[Eekiki]

Who cares about Tanaka retiring, did we just lose Matsui to XI?

Noooooooooo!

Tanaka was working on both XIV and XI. Why wouldn't Matsui?

[Guasta_Ryets]

First and foremost, I wish Hiromichi Tanaka a speedy, full recovery.

I must thank him for playing such a major role in the video game industry as both a visionary producer/developer and video game enthusiast. Major respect for his dedication and work with FFXIV and all the titles he worked on to date. I was drawn to FFXIV's original concept, offering and roadmap ("Tanaka's Vision") and that's when I started looking at the credits to find out who was leading a team on creating such a monumental game. If only he had received the extra time he needed and obviously asked for. This game still has that potential and its great to know we'll see it realised in a fairly different form but with the same monumental results (Naoki Yoshida don't sweat it, you'll do fine).

By the way, Hiromichi Tanaka was the Online Business Management Division Executive for this game to date. Go read the credits.

Tanaka, it's great to know you'll be working on games in the future.
(Let's play together again sometime!)

[Paul_Bunion]

Tanaka-san, I owe you and the teams you worked with over the years a big thank you for all the great games. Xenogears, Chrono Cross, FFXI, and FFXIV are ones that I have enjoyed playing, even when they didn't work the way they were intended. Get well; the future is full of possibilities.

[Murugan]

Tanaka was working on both XIV and XI. Why wouldn't Matsui?

Because being a battle designer and a producer are both pretty demanding. Whereas Tanaka didn't have a very prominent role for XIV after he was moved to XI.

A big part of why I stick with this game is anticipation for endgame encounters, and Matsui was a huge draw for me and others I know. I am sad to see that he will no longer be focusing his full attention (or any at all, there is nothing that says he is going to continue to work on XIV into the future) on designing encounters in this game.

[Keres]

Yoshi-P is currently getting praise from the community (generally), yet nobody seems to realize that he doesn't do any of the coding/modeling/etc.

Of course not, but he does have control over the high-level direction that those teams will take. For instance, Yoshi-P has said that he had the UI team (at the very least, possibly more) play World of Warcraft a bit, and told them "this is the level of UI functionality that our worldwide players will expect." Doubtless he's done the same with other aspects of the game as well. I think he deserves credit for setting a high bar for the team with 2.0.

[khaled]

A big loss for SE , I really never wanted this game as his last contribution .
Get well soon!

[KiriA500]

Of course not, but he does have control over the high-level direction that those teams will take. For instance, Yoshi-P has said that he had the UI team (at the very least, possibly more) play World of Warcraft a bit, and told them "this is the level of UI functionality that our worldwide players will expect." Doubtless he's done the same with other aspects of the game as well. I think he deserves credit for setting a high bar for the team with 2.0.

Don't get me wrong, I think Yoshi-P is doing a great job as Producer, he just doesn't do as much as people seem to think he does. Having his team play World of Warcraft to see what a proper UI is only part of the solution...the development team needs to do their part in understanding the research, and applying it to the game. He has helped the game immensely since he first joined, but as I've said before, the major changes are up to the rest of the development team. He can dream all he wants, if they can't do anything with the information, it won't matter at all.

I want to state again, I really do like Yoshi-P! I just feel Producers of games get more credit than is deserved.

[Velhart]

Don't get me wrong, I think Yoshi-P is doing a great job as Producer, he just doesn't do as much as people seem to think he does. Having his team play World of Warcraft to see what a proper UI is only part of the solution...the development team needs to do their part in understanding the research, and applying it to the game. He has helped the game immensely since he first joined, but as I've said before, the major changes are up to the rest of the development team. He can dream all he wants, if they can't do anything with the information, it won't matter at all.

I want to state again, I really do like Yoshi-P! I just feel Producers of games get more credit than is deserved.

With the amount of sleep he doesn't get, I would imagine he does more than you think he does.

[Xeonerable]

I've only played Final Fantasy XI of his works... but it left me with such memorable experiences that I think I will remember for the rest of my life. It was a great game and I'm glad I played it when I did.

Thank you Tanaka for your work for Square Enix and your fans.
Wish you well.

[Ashaylin]

I've never had an issue with Tanaka san.

It's a bit disheartening that people tend to cling to negativity more than they would remember positive things. As often the case, all a person's good deed are forgotten easily with a few bad ones. Tanaka branched out and took a risk when he created FFXIV. Even if it failed, I still respect him for what he did with FFXIV. Mainly, I respect him for taking that risk.

Compare his latest MMORPG attempt with many other MMORPG creators who wish to clone old games because they are "sure things", only to further the trend of failing games in a genre that is already rife with them. I believe it's Tanaka's kind of people who make real progress. My only regret is that this was not the case with FFXIV.

Whether or not a person had or has issues with FFXIV, I think anyone can still - if they have any sense of compassion for their fellow human being - give well wishes to a person who is in ill health.

Yoshi recently talked about XIV and how certain people will see the current situation as either a glass half empty or a glass half full. I'd like to look at the silver lining and think that Tanaka (and his team) gave us the foundation to which we can build 2.0 on. When it comes to FFXIV, that's what I'd like to remember him by.

Besides, resentment takes to much energy to keep up and I'm lazy.