Tabata blasts team’s own ego
When Hajime Tabata took over as director forFinal Fantasy XVin 2012 — six years after it was announced — people were pissed, including Square Enix employees working on the project.
“It wasn’t only from inside the team, but outside as well,” Tabata told4Gamer, as translated byKotaku. “The reason was that if my way of doing it ended up working, there are those whose circumstances will worsen,” he laughed. Damn! The candor is a bit refreshing, perhaps because fellow Japanese game developer Katsuhiro Harada (Tekken) was conducting the interview. But there were hints of this at the recentFinal Fantasy XVevent, too, where Square Enix let series creator Hironobu Sakaguchi admit he was worried about the direction of the series.
Tabata kept spilling real talk. “Around that time, I realized that among fans as well, there are people who’ve caughtFinal Fantasydisease,” which, “refers to people within the company who can’t imagine anything other than their own view ofFinal Fantasy.” I imagine they’re not dissimilar from the heathens that dislikeFinal Fantasy XII.
“Since the root is a strong self-affirmation, one’s own view ofFinal Fantasytakes more priority than the team’s success,” Tabata said.
“If that view ofFinal Fantasyisn’t fulfilled, then they’re convinced that it’s bad forFinal Fantasy. They think, ‘SinceFinal Fantasyis a special team, then we are also special because we are making it. When the newFinal Fantasycomes out, everybody is going to be so into it.’ But that’s not the reality of the situation, is it?”
Tabata told the team at one point, “We’re not special. Wake up.” And so farFinal Fantasy XVis seeming better for it. Preemptive “good job!” Tabata.
誰もがみんな“FF病”だった――鉄拳・原田Pによる不定期連載「原田が斬る！」。第1回はスクウェア・エニックス田畑氏が「FFXV」流リーダー術を語る[4Gamer]
