Final Fantasy creator working on new RPGs

TOKYO--Hironobu Sakaguchi, former Square executive vice president and cocreator of the Final Fantasy series, is working on two new role-playing games at his own development studio, Mist Walker. Sakaguchi himself revealed the news in an interview with Japanese Web site Gpara.com.

While Mist Walker's logo was trademarked in 2001, Sakaguchi has only recently publicly announced his plans for the new studio. Sakaguchi will be its president, and Kensuke Tanaka, who was involved in Square Enix projects such as Final Fantasy Tactics Advance and PlayOnline, will serve as its vice president.

"I've been absent from the creative field for about the last two and a half years, so it's been a while," says Sakaguchi in the interview. "Mist Walker is a small studio, but we've got a lot of sharp employees...We've started working on two full-scale projects, and they're both RPGs. I'm packing in all of my 20 years of experience and knowledge to make these games the best that I've created."

While Sakaguchi did not reveal what platforms Mist Walker's new projects would be released for, he did assure the public that they would have the emotional impact of his previous work. "I'll incorporate the good points from past games, but I'm working to my limit in hopes that these games will bring tears to the eyes of their players, in the ways that only novels and movies could," he said.