Hironobu Sakaguchi facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Hironobu Sakaguchi
坂口 博信
Sakaguchi at the 2015 Game Developers Choice Awards
Born	(1962-11-25) November 25, 1962 (age 62) Hitachinaka, Ibaraki, Japan
Occupation	CEO of Mistwalker, game designer
Employer	Square (1983–2003) Mistwalker (2004–present)
Known for	Role-playing video games
Notable work	Final Fantasy Rad Racer Blue Dragon Terra Battle

Hironobu Sakaguchi (坂口 博信, Sakaguchi Hironobu, born November 25, 1962) is a famous Japanese game designer, director, producer, and writer. He is best known as the creator of the hugely popular Final Fantasy game series.

Sakaguchi worked for a company called Square (which later became Square Enix) from 1983 to 2003. After leaving Square, he started his own game studio, Mistwalker, in 2004. At Mistwalker, he created games like Blue Dragon and Terra Battle. He has also moved towards making games for mobile phones.

Even though he first wanted to be a musician, Sakaguchi studied electronics and programming. He joined Square as a part-time worker and later became a full-time employee. He led the creation of many games before helping to make the first Final Fantasy. This game was a huge success and made him very important at Square.

Later, a movie he directed, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, did not do well financially. After this, Sakaguchi left Square in 2003. He then continued his game career with Mistwalker, first working with other companies and then making smaller mobile games.

Sakaguchi was born in Hitachi, Japan. He now lives in Hawaii, where one of Mistwalker's offices is located. He has also helped inspire other games like Kingdom Hearts. Sakaguchi has won several awards for his work in the gaming world.

Early Life and First Steps in Gaming

Hironobu Sakaguchi was born on November 25, 1962, in Hitachinaka, Japan. As a child, he enjoyed playing the piano and later the folk guitar in high school. He even formed a band with friends. At that time, he dreamed of becoming a professional musician and wasn't very interested in video games.

He studied computer science at Yokohama National University. There, he became friends with another student, Hiromichi Tanaka. Through Tanaka, Sakaguchi got to play Wizardry on an Apple II computer. He loved the game so much that he often skipped classes to play it!

His interest in programming led him to want his own computer. Since he couldn't afford a real Apple II, he bought a cheaper version in Tokyo. To buy software for his new computer, he looked for a part-time job.

In 1983, Sakaguchi and Tanaka found work at Square. This was a new company that wanted to make video games. Sakaguchi chose Square because it was new and seemed less strict than bigger companies. He was hired after a very relaxed interview. At this point, he still hoped to be a musician but felt working at Square would give him useful programming experience.

His Journey at Square (1983–2003)

When Sakaguchi first joined Square, he worked on games like The Death Trap. He quickly took on a more important role. After The Death Trap became successful, he took time off from university to keep working at Square. His first games were for PCs, and his first game for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) was King's Knight in 1986. Many of these early games helped Square stay in business, but they weren't huge hits. Sakaguchi also became known as a tough boss.

In 1986, Square became its own company, and Sakaguchi became the Director of Planning and Development. That year, a game called Dragon Quest became very popular. Sakaguchi convinced Square's boss to let him create a role-playing game (RPG) too. This new RPG was inspired by other fantasy games like The Legend of Zelda.

Creating Final Fantasy

Sakaguchi said making his RPG was difficult at first because many people at Square didn't believe in the project. He called it Final Fantasy because he felt it might be his "final" game. He thought if it failed, he would quit Square and finish university.

But Final Fantasy was a massive success! It sold 400,000 copies in Japan. This success launched the Final Fantasy series, which became Square's most important game series. Sakaguchi directed the next four Final Fantasy games until 1992. In 1991, he was promoted to Executive Vice President. This meant he had less direct creative control over games. Final Fantasy V (1992) was his last time directing a Final Fantasy game.

He also played a key role in creating Chrono Trigger (1995). For this game, he worked with the creator of Dragon Quest, Yuji Horii, and the artist Akira Toriyama. They were known as the "Dream Team."

Later Final Fantasy Games and a Movie

Sakaguchi was the producer for Final Fantasy VII (1997), which was Square's first Final Fantasy game for the PlayStation. This game was a huge hit and made a lot of money. Because PlayStation games were much bigger, Sakaguchi became less involved in the daily creative work. He gave more control to Yoshinori Kitase. For Final Fantasy VIII (1999), Sakaguchi was the executive producer. He also produced other games like Final Fantasy Tactics (1997) and Parasite Eve (1998).

For Final Fantasy IX (2000), Sakaguchi took on a bigger creative role. He produced the game and wrote its story. This game was made by a team in Honolulu, Hawaii, where Sakaguchi was living at the time.

During this period, Sakaguchi was also making a computer-animated movie based on Final Fantasy. He started a studio called Square Pictures in 1997 to make this movie and other animated projects. The movie, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, was his first time directing a film. He hoped it would be the first of many movies.

However, The Spirits Within cost a lot of money to make, about $137 million. When it was released in cinemas, it only made about $85 million. This was a big financial loss for Square. The movie's failure caused problems for Square and led to the closing of Square Pictures.

Leaving Square

After the movie's failure, Sakaguchi felt very down. He decided to step back from working on Square's projects. He was also getting tired of his management role. In 2001, Sakaguchi resigned from his position at Square. He spent the next three years at his home in Hawaii, feeling guilty about not contributing to the game industry.

Eventually, after talking with artists Akira Toriyama and Takehiko Inoue, he found the motivation to make games again. Sakaguchi officially left Square in 2003. His last major game credit at Square was for Final Fantasy X-2.

Starting Mistwalker (2004–Present)

Sakaguchi at the 2006 Tokyo Game Show

Feeling excited about making games again, Sakaguchi decided to start his own studio. He founded Mistwalker in 2004 with money from Microsoft. Mistwalker has offices in Honolulu, Hawaii, and Tokyo, Japan. Sakaguchi had settled in Honolulu and traveled between there and Japan for game development.

Many of Mistwalker's early games were for the Xbox 360. In 2005, four games were announced:

• Blue Dragon (2006): He worked with Akira Toriyama on this game, which led to sequels and other media.
• ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat (2007): A tactical RPG.
• Lost Odyssey (2007): This game featured art from Takehiko Inoue and a story by Japanese writer Kiyoshi Shigematsu.
• Cry On: A game meant to create strong emotions, but it was canceled in 2008.

Sakaguchi returned to directing games with The Last Story (2011). He used this chance to change his game design based on feedback and to keep up with new gaming trends.

Focus on Mobile Games

After The Last Story, Sakaguchi wanted Mistwalker to focus on smaller mobile games. These could be made by a small team within the studio. His first mobile game was Party Wave, a surfing game inspired by his love for surfing. However, this game was not a commercial success.

Learning from this, Sakaguchi looked closely at the mobile game market. He then started making Terra Battle, a card-based RPG with a story inspired by Western TV shows. Terra Battle was a big success for Mistwalker. This led Sakaguchi to plan for many more games. He made a sequel and a spin-off for Terra Battle. However, all three Terra Battle games were eventually shut down by 2019.

During this time, Sakaguchi replayed Final Fantasy VI (1994). This helped him remember how much he loved creating amazing worlds and stories. With this in mind, he began developing Fantasian (2021). This is a two-part RPG inspired by Final Fantasy VI. Sakaguchi produced and wrote the game for the Apple Arcade service. He created Fantasian thinking it might be his last big game project due to his age.

His Ideas and Game Themes

Sakaguchi really liked the design of the first Dragon Quest game. He admired how big it felt and how it created a long adventure. This admiration directly inspired him to create Final Fantasy. His favorite game type is tactical role-playing. He finally got to lead the development of one with Mistwalker's ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat (2007).

In 1994, Sakaguchi said he preferred to try new things rather than sticking to old plans. He also wanted games to be more visually and narratively powerful than movies, because games let you interact with the story.

When he worked on the Final Fantasy series, Sakaguchi always pushed not to make direct sequels. He believed games should be complete stories on their own. He has mixed feelings about remakes. He sees that remakes let new players enjoy older games, but he prefers developers to make new projects.

Sakaguchi compared creating a new game to watching a child being born. For the early Final Fantasy games, he didn't focus much on the story. He felt he wasn't good at writing stories because of his early failures in gaming. This changed during the making of Final Fantasy III. A fire at his family home tragically killed his mother, Aki. This deep sadness, along with criticism that his games lacked story, made him think about life and death. This led to a much greater focus on narrative in his games. Sakaguchi's thoughts on life and death directly inspired parts of Final Fantasy VII and The Spirits Within movie. He even named the main character in the movie, Aki Ross, after his mother. This focus on life and death continued in his work at Mistwalker.

Influence and Awards

At Square, Sakaguchi helped many talented people grow their careers. These included SaGa creator Akitoshi Kawazu, artist Tetsuya Nomura, Xeno creator Tetsuya Takahashi, and Tactics creator Yasumi Matsuno. Nomura said that Sakaguchi's suggestion led to the complex story of the Kingdom Hearts series. Sakaguchi also suggested the idea for Final Fantasy XI (2002).

After Sakaguchi left and Square merged with Enix, the new company, Square Enix, reportedly told its staff not to talk to him. Sakaguchi didn't like the new direction Final Fantasy took under the new management. He especially mentioned Final Fantasy XIII as an example of this change. Over the years, the relationship between Sakaguchi and Square Enix became a bit better.

In May 2000, Sakaguchi received the Hall of Fame Award from the Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences. In 2015, he was given the Lifetime Achievement award at the Game Developers Choice Awards. The manager of the event, Meggan Scavio, praised Sakaguchi's impact on game stories. She said his work on Final Fantasy "helped pave the way for game stories that dealt with death, regret, and character development in a mature and significant way." In 2017, Sakaguchi received the Special Award at the CEDEC Awards for his many contributions to the gaming industry.

Works

Video games

Films

See also

In Spanish: Hironobu Sakaguchi para niños