News Dragon Quest series chief producer Ryutaro Ichimura leaves Square Enix

[Yavga]

Link to Gematsu article
Direct Twitter announcement

Ryutaro Ichimura, who is known as a chief producer of the Dragon Quest series, has left Square Enix as of March 31, he announced on Twitter.

“I’ve started to count how many more games I’ll be able to make in my lifetime,” said Ichimura, who turns 47 this year. Especially now, when it takes three to four years to make a game, “we have to carefully consider each title we make.”

He continued, “Once I can reset and reflect, I’d like to leave this blessed environment, and explore what can be made if I dare to push myself into a higher-risk environment.”

---------------------

Square Enix is losing key figures in rapid tempo. In February, another DQ producer Ryota Aomi announced his departure from Square Enix as well.

Couple this with their business choices lately (read NFT) and I worry about the future of Square Enix as a developer who makes quality games...

 

[freedomseekr]

I'm not super worried about the future of DQ as long as Horii is still in charge... but yeah, we're probably about to enter a new era of turmoil for Square Enix, especially since they had a fairly decent run these past few years.

 

[Dcubed]

It's not just S-E, all of the major Japanese developers have been getting big-name talent getting poached by Chinese developers who are offering better pay.

That's why so many Japanaese publishers have been upping their wages in the past few months... it's not enough though, they need to up it more ASAP if they want to stop bleeding talent.

 

[Dardan Sandiego]

Maybe he wants to work on a turn-based game.

 

[Ahmed]

This isn't the first dev who's worked on Dragon Quest to leave, and that really sucks imo. It also feels like SE doesn't treat the series with as much importance as FF, but they have recently at least pushed themselves to release DQ games worldwide simultaneously.

 

[Gabev]

April Fools right......right!

 

[Terrell]

It's not just S-E, all of the major Japanese developers have been getting big-name talent getting poached by Chinese developers who are offering better pay.

That's why so many Japanaese publishers have been upping their wages in the past few months... it's not enough though, they need to up it more ASAP if they want to stop bleeding talent.

Until we know where the talent is going, it’s a bit premature to say this is entirely the result of companies like Tencent and Netease. I get that Nagoshi’s departure from Sega raised a lot of interest in this possibility, but it is not the ONLY possibility.

It’s also important to remember that Square Enix employees have likely been under a lot of scrutiny due to some recent illegal activities discovered within the company, which has likely negatively effected the work culture.

 

[shoptroll]

I’d be willing to bet he shows up at Nintendo within 6 months. That’s usually how this works.

 

[KingSlowpokebro]

I want the guy who made the Builders games to come back and make another.

 

[9-Volt]

I'm not super worried about the future of DQ as long as Horii is still in charge... but yeah, we're probably about to enter a new era of turmoil for Square Enix, especially since they had a fairly decent run these past few years.

Considering they've been outsourcing DQ games up until DQX, yeah I wouldn't worry either. But this looks like the dissatisfaction of the talent Square possesses about the scale of the projects. They really tone it down for anything that's not mainline FF.

 

[BRRRRRING]

I want the guy who made the Builders games to come back and make another.

Itoi seems incapable of working at a single company or publisher for that long. He does his thing and moves on. Setting up new franchises wherever he goes.

 

[Dolce]

Link to Gematsu article
Direct Twitter announcement

Ryutaro Ichimura, who is known as a chief producer of the Dragon Quest series, has left Square Enix as of March 31, he announced on Twitter.

“I’ve started to count how many more games I’ll be able to make in my lifetime,” said Ichimura, who turns 47 this year. Especially now, when it takes three to four years to make a game, “we have to carefully consider each title we make.”

He continued, “Once I can reset and reflect, I’d like to leave this blessed environment, and explore what can be made if I dare to push myself into a higher-risk environment.”

---------------------

Square Enix is losing key figures in rapid tempo. In February, another DQ producer Ryota Aomi announced his departure from Square Enix as well.

Couple this with their business choices lately (read NFT) and I worry about the future of Square Enix as a developer who makes quality games...

Any other people leave? I don't think losing two Dragon Quest producers is going to have much of an effect on... all the other non-Dragon Quest stuff they make.

given how long the gap between DQ games has been, it's pretty obvious why some of them have left, too.

 

[Yavga]

Any other people leave? I don't think losing two Dragon Quest producers is going to have much of an effect on... all the other non-Dragon Quest stuff they make.

given how long the gap between DQ games has been, it's pretty obvious why some of them have left, too.

Yosuke Matsuda as the CEO will be leaving as well being replaced by Takashi Kiryu
(who was previously General Manager at Dentsu Innovation Initiative, a company known for its work in the metaverse.)

That's all from this year as far as I know

 

[goldrogerii]

元スクエニ市村龍太郎氏が新会社“ピンクル”を設立。藤澤仁氏との『ドラクエ9』黄金タッグの完全新作や、新たなエンタメへの挑戦を語る 【独占インタビュー】 | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com

元スクウェア・エニックスの市村龍太郎氏が新会社“ピンクル”の設立を発表。新たな舞台で、ストーリーノートの藤澤仁氏とタッグを組む完全新作など、さまざまなエンターテインメントに挑む市村氏に、その経緯と展望をたっぷりと語っていただいた。

s.famitsu.com

 

[ermitron2]

元スクエニ市村龍太郎氏が新会社“ピンクル”を設立。藤澤仁氏との『ドラクエ9』黄金タッグの完全新作や、新たなエンタメへの挑戦を語る 【独占インタビュー】 | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com

元スクウェア・エニックスの市村龍太郎氏が新会社“ピンクル”の設立を発表。新たな舞台で、ストーリーノートの藤澤仁氏とタッグを組む完全新作など、さまざまなエンターテインメントに挑む市村氏に、その経緯と展望をたっぷりと語っていただいた。

s.famitsu.com

So he went and stablished his own company, thats cool. Also interesting to see he mentions he stills hangs out with Horii

 

[Terrell]

元スクエニ市村龍太郎氏が新会社“ピンクル”を設立。藤澤仁氏との『ドラクエ9』黄金タッグの完全新作や、新たなエンタメへの挑戦を語る 【独占インタビュー】 | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com

元スクウェア・エニックスの市村龍太郎氏が新会社“ピンクル”の設立を発表。新たな舞台で、ストーリーノートの藤澤仁氏とタッグを組む完全新作など、さまざまなエンターテインメントに挑む市村氏に、その経緯と展望をたっぷりと語っていただいた。

s.famitsu.com

I stand corrected in this example.

 

[shoptroll]

Most important question… did he get seed money from Nintendo or will they be making games for Nintendo as is tradition?

 

[Yamanoi]

Most important question… did he get seed money from Nintendo or will they be making games for Nintendo as is tradition?

Nintendo never needs to stoop low like MS and Sony. Developers consider it prestigious to release on Nintendo platforms.

 

[Linkstrikesback]

Nintendo never needs to stoop low like MS and Sony. Developers consider it prestigious to release on Nintendo platforms.

What weird delusion is this? Nobody cares about that in practicality and realistically that's more true about Sony platforms than Nintendo ones.

 

[SirArthur]

Netease continues to scoop up talent. Not this studio in particular, but we should start hearing about some of their big games soon right?

I believe their earliest studio was established in 2020 (Sakura Studios). Interested to see how their overall outputs looks.

 

[Terrell]

Netease continues to scoop up talent. Not this studio in particular, but we should start hearing about some of their big games soon right?

I believe their earliest studio was established in 2020 (Sakura Studios). Interested to see how their overall outputs looks.

Well, they also own Quantic Dream, so it's likely their first AAA game is gonna end up being whatever David Cage was working on before they got bought.

 

[fiendcode]

What weird delusion is this? Nobody cares about that in practicality and realistically that's more true about Sony platforms than Nintendo ones.

It's also bizarre when Nintendo invests and contracts pretty widely in the Japanese industry when Sony/MS, well, mostly don't.

 

[Dcubed]

It's not just S-E, all of the major Japanese developers have been getting big-name talent getting poached by Chinese developers who are offering better pay.

That's why so many Japanaese publishers have been upping their wages in the past few months... it's not enough though, they need to up it more ASAP if they want to stop bleeding talent.

Told you.

 

[shoptroll]

Nintendo never needs to stoop low like MS and Sony. Developers consider it prestigious to release on Nintendo platforms.

I was being cheeky about companies like Alpha Dream, Grezzo, Brownies, etc. that were formed by ex-Square employees and got either partial funding from Nintendo or were strongly associated with their platforms.

 

[fiendcode]

I was being cheeky about companies like Alpha Dream, Grezzo, Brownies, etc. that were formed by ex-Square employees and got either partial funding from Nintendo or were strongly associated with their platforms.

Also Genius Sonority and (eventually) Monolith Soft!

 

[9-Volt]

元スクエニ市村龍太郎氏が新会社“ピンクル”を設立。藤澤仁氏との『ドラクエ9』黄金タッグの完全新作や、新たなエンタメへの挑戦を語る 【独占インタビュー】 | ゲーム・エンタメ最新情報のファミ通.com

元スクウェア・エニックスの市村龍太郎氏が新会社“ピンクル”の設立を発表。新たな舞台で、ストーリーノートの藤澤仁氏とタッグを組む完全新作など、さまざまなエンターテインメントに挑む市村氏に、その経緯と展望をたっぷりと語っていただいた。

s.famitsu.com

This is nothing but good news. Now he has all the creative freedom and funds he needs. Cannot wait to see the first project, I hope the new studio hires some prolific artists.

Btw, NetEase is getting bigger and bigger in the traditional arena. If I were Nintendo, I'd try to ink some exclusive deal with them before anyone else.

 

[shoptroll]

Oh huh, I missed the part where NetEase was involved. Guess that's not Nintendo seed money after all!