While the gaming community is waiting eagerly for the release of Final Fantasy XV, something rather unfortunate has happened over at Square Enix‘s camp. Yusuke Naora, who has been a part of the Japanese video game developer for more than two decades, has announced his leave from the company. Naora is the art director of the upcoming RPG, Final Fantasy XV.
Naora made the news of his resignation public on Twitter, where he made several posts saying that Final Fantasy XV was going to be his last game for the series as a regular member of Square Enix, and that he was going to leave the company he had been associated with for 24 long years. He added that he has been shown the ending of the game that he was working on and he thinks that it is one of greatest he has ever seen.
As of 30th September, I resigned Square Enix, the company I worked for 24 years.
— 直良有祐 naora yusuke (@NaoraYusuke) October 1, 2016
However, he adds that he was a little disappointed with the delay in the release of FFXV. Indeed, Final Fanatsy XV has been in development since at least 2006 and its creators have suffered endless delays in coming up with the final product. The latest news of a delay came this year after the game’s director Hajime Tabata explained that he intended the final game to be launched along with a new patch that the company was developing, rather than making it available afterwards as a download.
The constant delays obviously meant mounting pressure on those associated with the development. In fact, Naora has tweeted that he is resigning as he intends to spend more time with his family in Izumo, his hometown. However, by no means does Naora’s decision to leave Square Enix mean that he will be severing all ties with the company. He affirms that he will still be involved with Square Enix as a freelancer and continue to design artwork and illustrations with the developer. He adds that he also wishes to explore new opportunities, which means that perhaps we will now see his involvement in various other projects. With Naora’s expertise and experience, it can be safely surmised that his artistic inputs will be invaluable to any project he works with.
Final Fantasy XV is set for release on November 29. It will be playable on the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.
