News: Hajime Tabata Leaves Square; FFXV DLC Plans Cancelled

[Peter Paltridge]

Earlier this year, Square Enix announced a second wave of Final Fantasy XV DLC content. It was quite a surprising move from the company, given that few games are given that kind of second life beyond their initial Season Pass content. Now today came an even bigger surprise: they changed their minds.

Four new add-on chapters were announced for Final Fantasy XV last April, each focusing on a specific character: Episode Ardyn, Episode Aranea, Episode Lunafreya and Episode Noctis. Episode Noctis would have really, truly been the final chapter -- we think. Now only Episode Ardyn, which is too far along to pump the brakes, will be released.


Why the sudden about-face? Because the man in charge is leaving the company. Game director Hajime Tabata has been credited with saving the Final Fantasy XV project, back when it was just an FF spinoff and in danger of cancellation. He's been in charge of the whole thing since then, until now. It would seem Square doesn't want to continue without him.

Tabata released a public statement upon the announcement of his departure from Square, which can be read below.

It’s almost going to be 2 whole years since the release of FFXV. I honestly believe the reason we were able to get this far is because of all you loyal fans. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Today, I have a personal announcement to make to all of you. I, Hajime Tabata, will be resigning from Luminous Productions and the Square Enix Group as of October 31, 2018

I was able to gain so much experience with my time at Square Enix. Every title I was able to be a part of means a lot to me. However, FFXV stood out from that group as it was a special project for me which I went all-in.​

Therefore, I decided to take this opportunity to officially announce my departure from FFXV to all the fans who have supported the title across the globe.
In regards to my next endeavors and near future, I have a project that I truly wish to solidify as my next challenge after FFXV. For that reason, I have decided to leave my current position and start my own business in order to achieve my goal.

As production of Episode Ardyn continues and Luminous Productions works on new projects, I felt that it was time for me to hand over the torch to the next generation group of talented and trustworthy colleagues and believe that they will create something amazing.​

From this day on, I will cheer on and support Square Enix and Luminous Productions together with all you fans.
I would like to thank everyone who continue to support FFXV and those who have also supported myself personally.​

 

[Addap Earver]

This is how I feel about this terrible news since many people had been waiting for these DLC's. That must be the reason why these dlc's got delayed because they end up getting cancelled. This is Konami levels of incompetence.

 

[Bartz_FFV]

This is really a depressing news since most of has had been waiting for these downloadable content for so long. I had been wanting to play these updates but now we are not going to get it. This is negative PR on Square Enix's part.

 

[deryan kibeht]

NO!!!! I had been waiting for this dlc to arrive for a long time. They promise to give us extra content and they didn't keep their promise. They should have not wasted their time and resources for that mobile chibi remake and focus on the DLCs. They will make money from it, why cancel it!! This is making me super livid!! I want that Aranea DLC since it was announced.

 

[doep djuer]

You know what is terrible? There are some content data mined from the Final Fantasy disk that can be playable with hacking. They do all this cancellation when they already have available files for us to play. It is an awful betrayal of fans.

 

[Mai]

I hope Final Fantasy 16 is not open world. Open world is too ambitious for Square enix to handle that we end up an unfinished game that is cancelled. They betrayed all the people who spent 80 bucks to buy this game.

 

[Bartz_FFV]

This situation reminds me of Silent hills by Konami. A highly hyped game that got cancelled because Konami is stupid. Square Enix is pulling a Konami on this one.

 

[Mai]

If Budget is a concern, They could have tried going for a kickstarter. I know it will sound weird for a mainstream company asking for donations from fans but at least it will finish the game.

 

[Drake]

People who are hoping for a Final Fantasy 15-2 can just mourn. If they can't finish dlc, I wont trust them to make a spin off. A polarizing game like 13 managed to have 2 subsequals. I know 15 is polarizing too but the dlc's could have made it a more loved game.

 

[Addap Earver]

Maybe this game is not as successful as we thought it was because they won't just cancel something if the game is successful. As much as critics hated 13, It still managed to sell well hence expansions are not cancelled.

 

[jordan]

There goes the Aranea DLC I had been waiting for. I enjoyed the Ardyn DLC so it is really upsetting we will never get to play the rest of the game because of the drama happened at the headquarters of Square Enix. I wish they will reconsider finishing the other DLCs but their assets are already used for Final Fantasy 14 which means they have no more plans of continuing the production. I wonder what leads to this because the game sold well.

 

[Bartz_FFV]

Square enix wanted their full team to focus on Kingdom Hearts 3 and Final Fantasy 7 remake. Also there is an upcoming tomb raider game.

 

[Zell]

This news is really disappointing because I have high hopes for the dlcs. I enjoyed the one with Ardyn and I was expecting to get more.

 

[marinalizabeth]

So this is the reason why the updates I waited for never game. It took me a year to find out. I thought something will come out after the Ardyn DLC.

I think they cancelled the dlc because they needed more manpower for 7 remake.

 

[Hova]

I will always appreciate Hajime Tabata for the amazing work he did on Final Fantasy XV, which had received bad rep for years. He came in, took over everything and turned into a huge financial success for Square Enix.

 

[Hova]

This news is really disappointing because I have high hopes for the dlcs. I enjoyed the one with Ardyn and I was expecting to get more.

The 2016 game was a huge hit that there were still
plans to release four new episodes of DLC next year,
but now only Episode Ardyn will be finished.