Hitoshi Sakimoto

Hitoshi Sakimoto (崎元 仁) is a Japanese composer and sound producer.

He is best known for scoring the video games Final Fantasy Tactics and Final Fantasy XII, though he has composed soundtracks for over 80 other games.

Sakimoto was born on February 26, 1969, in Tokyo, Japan.

He began developing an interest in music beginning in elementary school, when he taught himself to play the piano and electronic organ and participated in some brass and rock bands.

A fan of video games, he began creating his own games in junior high school with some friends.

While in his senior high school years, Sakimoto wrote for the computer magazine Oh!FM and compiled data about pieces of music he liked, becoming a self-professed "computer, games, and music geek".

Sakimoto started composing for games when he was 16, and was paid to both create the music and the program to play it for several games.

Composing for these games was the first time he had ever composed music for any instrument.

Sakimoto first played music and video games in elementary school and began composing music professionally in 1988.

His debut as a professional gaming composer came in 1988, when he and his friend Masaharu Iwata, whom he has worked with on numerous later titles, scored the shooter game Revolter, published by ASCGroup for the NEC PC-8801.

Sakimoto also created the synthesizer driver "Terpsichorean" to enhance the sound quality of the game's music; the synthesizer driver has been implemented into many games throughout the Japanese game market in the early 1990s.

Despite Revolter's success, he continued with his previous goal to become a video game programmer rather than a composer; however, his friends and colleagues encouraged him to continue composing game music.

The recognition he gained within the gaming industry jump-started his career.

After Revolter, Sakimoto's music and synthesizer driver earned him immediate recognition in the industry, resulting in him being asked to score several PC-9801 and Mega Drive games such as Starship Rendezvous and Gauntlet IV, as well as use his driver both in the scores he wrote and for other games.

Between 1990 and 1992, Sakimoto worked on over 20 different video games for several different companies such as Toshiba EMI, Artec, and Data East.

It was during this time that he composed his first solo score in 1990 for Bubble Ghost.

Sakimoto's first encounter with mainstream success in Japan came about in 1993 when he composed Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen.

The game was directed by Yasumi Matsuno, and since the release of the title, he has chosen Sakimoto as a regular for his development team at Quest and later Square.

Sakimoto also worked on 14 other titles that year, including Shin Megami Tensei and Alien vs. Predator.

Over the next few years, he would go on to compose for or work on over 40 more titles such as Tactics Ogre.

He worked at the video game company Square from 1997 to 2002, leaving in order to found the music and sound production company Basiscape.

In 1997, Sakimoto joined Square and composed the score for Final Fantasy Tactics, which made him internationally famous, and was the score he was best known for outside Japan until at least 2006.

He contributed one track each to the albums Ten Plants (1998) and 2197 (1999), which feature music from various well-known artists.

Although he worked on a handful of titles by other companies over the next few years, his next work for Square did not come until 2000, with the successful Vagrant Story.

The company expanded in the mid-2000s with the addition of Mitsuhiro Kaneda, Kimihiro Abe, Noriyuki Kamikura, Yoshimi Kudo, and Azusa Chiba.

Members of the company are free to procure personal work as well as collaborate with other members on projects.

It was his last score as an employee of Square; although he went on to first compose Breath of Fire V and Tactics Ogre: The Knight of Lodis for Capcom and Quest, after a couple of years of planning he resigned from Square to form his own music production company, Basiscape, in October 2002.

Basiscape is a music and sound production studio founded by Sakimoto in 2002.

The company has contributed to video games, anime, and films.

Sakimoto says that he left Square to found the company because he wanted more freedom in choosing his projects.

At its founding, it had only three members: Sakimoto, Iwata, and Manabu Namiki.

Through Basiscape, Sakimoto continued to compose for several different companies, including Square Enix.

Sakimoto collaborated with singer Lia in 2005 to create the music for the album Colors of Life.

He, along with Yoko Shimomura and Michael Salvatori, were special guests at a July 2006 Play! A Video Game Symphony event at the Orchestra Hall in Detroit.

He has developed a strong relationship with the Australian-based Eminence Symphony Orchestra.

Sakimoto and Yasunori Mitsuda made guest appearances at their Passion event in December 2006.

He composed the music for two anime series; Romeo x Juliet (2007) and The Tower of Druaga: The Aegis of Uruk (2008); as well as the original video animation (OVA) Legend of Phoenix ~Layla Hamilton Monogatari~ in 2005.

Sakimoto has made numerous appearances at video game concerts that have performed his compositions.

The company launched a record label in 2009.

Sakimoto has also been involved in non-gaming projects during his career.