Hiromichi Tanaka

Hiromichi Tanaka (田中 弘道 Tanaka Hiromichi, born January 7, 1962) is a Japanese video game developer, game producer, game director and game designer. He was Senior Vice President of Software Development at Square Enix (formerly Square) and the head of the company's Product Development Division-3.[1] He is best known as the former lead developer of Final Fantasy XI, Square's first massively multiplayer online role playing game (MMORPG). He oversaw ongoing development of that title and Final Fantasy XIV until late 2010. He also worked in a prominent role for earlier single-player games including Secret of Mana, Seiken Densetsu 3, Xenogears, Threads of Fate, Chrono Cross, and the Nintendo DS version of Final Fantasy III. (Tanaka had also worked on the original Famicon version of Final Fantasy III in 1990).

In 1983, Tanaka dropped out of Yokohama National University along with Hironobu Sakaguchi to join Square, a newly formed software branch of the Denyuusha Electric Company. Along with Sakaguchi and Kazuhiko Aoki, Tanaka was part of Square's original Planning and Development department.

Final Fantasy XIV received a hostile reception from critics and players, and was considered a financial disaster for Square Enix. Three months after its release in 2010, Tanaka was removed from the Final Fantasy XIV team and replaced by Naoki Yoshida.[2] At the Vana'diel Fan Festival 2012, a festival celebrating Final Fantasy XI's 10th anniversary, Tanaka announced his departure from Square Enix due to health reasons.[3] In 2012, Tanaka joined GungHo Online Entertainment as a freelance adviser to the company.[4]

(Source: Wikipedia)