Many were taken aback when the recent Final Fantasy XV livestream included an announcement that Game Director Hajime Tabata was resigning from Luminous Productions and Square Enix, simultaneously canceling three of the game’s four DLC expansions. All shock aside, this led to a lot of leadership questions. Most notably, who would fill the now empty role. Square Enix revealed Final Fantasy XV Lead Programmer Takeshi Aramaki will fill that gap as the new Studio Head of Luminous Productions. In addition to being the lead programmer, Aramaki also worked on the PC version of the game, Final Fantasy XV Windows Edition.
We know that the studio has plans to create brand new AAA titles, and we suspect that it is working on a next-gen release, assuming that information shown on Tomohiro Tokoro’s LinkedIn profile was accurate. But official confirmation and additional details have yet to surface.
Here’s what Takeshi Aramaki, who is now the Vice President of Development at Luminous Productions, had to say about his new leadership role. His statement was written on Luminous Productions’ official website.
I had the honor of being the lead programmer for Final Fantasy XV. In developing FFXV, we meticulously pursued the potential of games, from the open world system to the application of emotion-filled AI. This philosophy is ingrained in our staff and Luminous Engine, our proprietary creative toolset, and continues to grow each day.We are currently making steady progress on a brand new title. We cannot wait to show you, and we hope that you look forward to its reveal.
[Source: Gematsu, Game Watch, Luminous Productions]
