Kingdom Hearts co-creator Shinji Hashimoto retires after 28 years with Square Enix

Shinji Hashimoto, the producer of Final Fantasy video games and the co-creator of Kingdom Hearts, has retired after 28 years at Square Enix.

He introduced his retirement on Twitter, saying he was “very grateful” to everyone and was trying ahead to persevering with his help for the corporate as a fan. The official Square Enix Twitter additionally honoured Hashimoto, saying “thank you for everything” alongside a video message from the person himself. 

Hashimoto joined Squaresoft in 1995, serving as producer on nearly each mainline and spin-off Final Fantasy game from Final Fantasy 7 onwards. He additionally helped to supply video games resembling The Last Remnant and The World Ends With You. 

According to Den of Geek, the concept for Kingdom Hearts took place in a dialog with Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, desirous to develop an open world game akin to Super Mario 64. However, the 2 felt as if they wanted a mascot as robust as Mario to hold the game, and felt as if Disney was the one firm that had the identical sort of energy. Luckily for Hashimoto, he discovered himself in an elevator with a Disney govt, with the 2 firms sharing an workplace. The probability assembly helped result in the conception of Kingdom Hearts, with Hashimoto overseeing each entry within the collection.

Hashimoto stated he was “leaving the company in high spirits,” encouraging followers and former colleagues to say hey in the event that they ever see him.