Tanaka is with Gung~Ho

[Wynn]

I don't necessarily blame Tanaka for leaving SE or for making those comments. I mean look what SE did to him. They tossed him out in the cold like a sacrificial lamb and said "Here's your criminal, angry gamers. Do with him as you see fit" and then turned their backs to him and the mob descended.

Still, he should realize he does carry some of the blame in what happened. They all do.

In any event, I think it is a shame for SE to lose yet another game maker with an amazing track record. I hope Tanaka does well in his new position.

[Ricky]

Yep, He should have put foot to ass.

Not to be a pompous ass but that's not how Japanese business culture works

[Gramul]

I think one of the major factors was they really wanted to launch before WoW: Cataclysm. They did but the game wasn't complete at all.

And what a foolish idea. How clouded must your vision be to think you can compete with a major WoW expansion with a new game? You may think you're taking sales away from WoW, but really you're just hurting yourself. They probably where thinking they could just release it now and finish it later, but the problem with that was people quickly abandon a game that's incomplete.

Just not a very wise move on the higherups part, and I have my concerns that ARR is suffering from a similar rush before completion.

[Zahak]

All of you have hastilty pointed thy finger at Square Enix and or Tanaka! Look upon thy own selves and know that it was thee who brought shame to the Final Fantasy name! Oh yes! You who hath supported all the past final fantasies and had seduced Square Enix into lustful thoughts of creating yet another MMO for your pleasure.

Joking aside, I wish you the best of luck Tanaka Long days and pleasant nights, water for your crop, and may your beard grow ever longer.

[Alixandir]

To be fair, Tanaka already stated in the interviews the year before release that he (unlike on XI) wasn't directing the work all that much, wanting the younger guys making their vision of a great MMO. Of course, this doesn't mean he isn't partly to blame, it might have been a poor decision leaving everything to the team with minimal direction, on the other hand I guess it was a gamble, and a chance to make something new.

Whatever the reason for the ffxiv debacle, it's sad that SE are losing yet another long time contributor, who has made many great games. Hope he will enjoy his new work, and gets to creat the new title he wanted too.

[Griss]

Best of luck to the dude.

[Trotsky]

True, it's kinda unfair that Tanaka was made a scapegoat, even though FFXIV's failure couldn't have been his fault alone. Still, after all the sadistic bullshit he made us go through in FFXI, I don't pity him even one bit. That's just karma.

[Kiote]

SE's loss, they never should have put it on Tanaka in the first place. It was very obvious that all of FFXIV's problems were caused by Bean Counters.

No New Engine

No Content

No optimization

That basically screams, "We want an MMO, but we don't wanna pay for it."

[Airget]

Hm, if you read on it does mention how he's going to the hospital every week so it's not like the illness is a lie. You have to consider the size of both production companies, SE is a fairly big group with would most likely have more stress behind it. Gunh~Ho on the otherhand may be more open to listening to tanaka and giving him the option of more input because of his experience in the past. Also he's only an adviser which means he would most likely just be giving advice and opionions on the ideas going on with everything so his work should be less strenuous then on SE. All in all it is good to see that he managed to find another group to work with so quickly, I had actually thought he be out of the business for a while but time will tell how much his influence helps the new place he works for and all one can do is hope for the best and see what happens in the future.

[Duelle]

I was expecting him to join Mistwalker, but I guess this'll do.

I don't exactly buy the whole "I tried to not meddle with what the guys working on XIV wanted to do with the game" thing. That's the sort of thing you can do with a small-time sub brand or a brand new IP, not an established franchise that happens to be the flagship of your company. If the Yoshida interviews are any indication, Yoshi-P seems to be the polar opposite if everything has to run through him, as he has often claimed.

I've said it before, but as much as I respect Tanaka's track record, I also never liked the way he dealt with FFXI. If he feels he can create something "worth paying for" online, good and him and I wish him the best. I still think he'd be better-served working on single player games for console or PC.