Shinji Hashimoto, the well-known Square Enix producer, has announced his official retirement from the company. The retirement took effect on May 31 per custom retirement practices in Japan.
In a video posted by Square Enix on Twitter, Hashimoto stated that he has been thankful for the overwhelming support from fans, especially with the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts franchises. He also noted that although he will be retiring from the company, he will be still active in the gaming scene, and promises to attend upcoming events in the future.
Hashimoto is well-known for his creative direction for the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts game franchises. He served as the promotions producer for Final Fantasy VII and is one of the co-creators of Kingdom Hearts, developed alongside The Walt Disney Company in 2002. Both game franchises have since then sprung into various game sequels, where he served various roles, ranging from executive producer to sales and marketing producer.
He has also worked on several of Square Enix’s game adaptations based on popular anime and manga franchises, including JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure (1993), Fullmetal Alchemist and the Broken Angel (2003), and Fullmetal Alchemist 2: Curse of the Crimson Elixir (2004). Aside from being a game producer, he also served as a film producer on several Final Fantasy film adaptations, including Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children (2005) and Last Order: Final Fantasy VII (2005).
Source: Square Enix Twitter
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