Hironobu Sakaguchi

Hironobu Sakaguchi (坂口 博信) is a Japanese game designer, director, producer, and writer.

Hironobu Sakaguchi was born on November 25, 1962, in Hitachi, a city in Ibaraki Prefecture.

His parents were from Kyushu, and he would visit there frequently with his family in his childhood.

Notable elements of his youth were finding rock samples in a local quarry and gathering a collection of polished stones from an interested geologist and reading through his mother's large library.

He enjoyed playing piano in elementary school, and during high school played the folk guitar and formed an amateur band with some friends and classmates, almost getting himself expelled by selling homemade concert tickets.

Having little to no interest in gaming at the time, his aim was to become a musician.

He was a computer science major at Yokohama National University, becoming friends with fellow student Hiromichi Tanaka.

Through Tanaka, Sakaguchi got access to an Apple II computer on which he played and fell in love with Wizardry, frequently skipping classes to play it.

Sakaguchi's programming studies led him to desire an Apple II of his own.

Since he could not afford one, he instead purchased a knockoff in the Akihabara district, which, although cheaper than an actual Apple II, was still expensive.

Realizing that he needed funds to buy software for his computer, he began to seek a part-time job to earn the necessary income.

Originally working for Square (later Square Enix) from 1983 to 2003, he departed the company and founded independent studio Mistwalker in 2004.

He is known as the creator of the Final Fantasy franchise, in addition to other titles during his time at Square.

At Mistwalker, he is known for creating the Blue Dragon and Terra Battle series among several standalone titles, moving away from home consoles and creating titles for mobile platforms.

In 1983 towards the end of their third university year, Sakaguchi and Tanaka were both looking for part-time work in the electronics sector.

They found work with Square, a newly-formed subsidiary of electric power conglomerate Den-Yu-Sha, formed by Masafumi Miyamoto to tap into the emerging video game market.

Sakaguchi applied as Square was a new company and not as exacting as other larger companies such as Namco and Konami.

The interview was quite informal, and Sakaguchi was hired.

At this point, Sakaguchi still dreamed of becoming a professional musician but felt that working for a company like Square would provide him with needed programming experience in the meantime.

During his time at Square, he was first involved in an unlicensed adaptation of the television game show Torin-ingen, then later became part of the team for The Death Trap.

There was no formal reassignment, only an informal restructure that led Sakaguchi to take on a more senior role.

Following the success of The Death Trap, he took a leave of absence from university work to continue his work with Square.

Originally intending to become a musician, he briefly studied electronics and programming, joining Square as a part-time employee, then later a full-time employee when Square became an independent company in 1986.

He led the development of several titles before helping to create the original Final Fantasy, which proved highly successful and cemented his status within the company.

His first few titles including The Death Trap were for PCs, with his first Nintendo Entertainment System title being King's Knight (1986).

Many of these projects, while keeping the company afloat, were not hugely successful and focused on action titles that Sakaguchi disliked.

He also earned the reputation of being a hard person to work under.

When Square became an independent company in 1986, Sakaguchi was appointed as a full-time employee as Director of Planning and Development.

That year, following the release and success of Enix's role-playing video game (RPG) Dragon Quest for the NES, he persuaded Miyamoto to allow production of an RPG by Square.

This RPG drew inspiration from multiple fantasy titles of the time including The Legend of Zelda, and Origin Systems's Ultima series.

Sakaguchi described the production as happening in "fits and starts" with a small staff as most of the company did not believe in his project.

Production gained momentum during its second half and getting help from Tanaka's team.

Initially titled Fighting Fantasy, he changed it to Final Fantasy to both avoid trademark conflicts with the roleplaying gamebook series of the same name and to represent his feelings at the time.

Had the title failed commercially, he would have quit Square and completed his university education.

In fact, Final Fantasy was an impressive commercial success, selling 400,000 units in Japan, and kickstarting the Final Fantasy series as Square's leading series.

Following the financial failure of Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, his debut as a film director, Sakaguchi withdrew from Square's management and eventually resigned in 2003.

He continued his game career through Mistwalker, first co-developing projects through external partners and then smaller in-studio mobile projects.

Born in Hitachi, Ibaraki Prefecture, Sakaguchi now lives in Hawaii where one of Mistwalker's offices is based.

He has also influenced the creation of several other Square Enix projects, such as Kingdom Hearts.

Sakaguchi has received several industry awards.