Square Enix is one of the game industry's leading lights, with multiple million-selling franchises under its belt and a network of studios dotted around the world. However, for the longest time, the company's success was built around its tentpole Final Fantasy franchise, a series of JRPGs created by Hironobu Sakaguchi.
Speaking on the NOBIYO To Isshoni (Together with NOBIYO) podcast, composer Nobuo Uematsu recently paid tribute to Sakaguchi, even going as far as to claim that Square "collapsed" following Sakaguchi's departure in 2003 (thanks, Automation Media).
Sakaguchi's relationship with the best-selling Final Fantasy series elevated him to a senior role within Square, but a series of setbacks, including the box office bomb that was Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, placed the firm in a perilous position.
“To put it simply – he is the big boss", gushes Uematsu. "Always has been and always will be." He adds that Square used to be more like a "club of students", but adds that "Sakaguchi was able to manage the work even in that kind of environment. We didn’t even have a proper corporate organization, yet everybody listened to him. It’s a kind of quality you just have to be born with."
Sakaguchi appears as a guest on the podcast in question, and Uematsu explains that "the situation at Square was awful after he quit. He left, and the organisation suddenly collapsed. I thought to myself – Oh no, I should get away from here." Sakaguchi formed Mistwalker in 2004 after leaving Square, and Uematsu left the company to work as a freelance composer.
Uematsu is quick to praise the way the company has evolved since the merger between Square and Enix in 2004. The pair of Final Fantasy veterans have remained close since, and recently worked on Fantasian Neo Dimension.