Confirmed: Masashi Hamauzu Leaves Square Enix

Chris · **Confirmed: Masashi Hamauzu Leaves Square Enix -** 01-19-2010, 09:49 PM

Square Enix Music Online can exclusively reveal that Final Fantasy XIII composer Masashi Hamauzu has left Square Enix. His departure is the latest in an exodus at the company's sound team, following Kenichiro Fukui and Junya Nakano, and further departures from the composer team will occur in coming months. More here.

Don · 01-19-2010, 10:07 PM

Given that Sekito is in Square Enix's Osaka branch...I guess that's a fast track to Ishimoto being lead composer at the Tokyo office?

Ram · 01-19-2010, 10:34 PM

That's it. What's now left over at SE's music team is truly sad when compared to ten years back...

Quote:

he has recently been involved in development of the soundtrack for the international version of the game.

Do you know more about this?

jampot · 01-20-2010, 12:02 AM

That's a blow for SQEX. What's behind all this, someone in the know? I missed a lot of news last term. Is it a little ungrateful to leave your alma mater just as your highest-profile work is about to be released - and is it a deliberate snub?

Montblanc · 01-20-2010, 01:06 AM

What a blow to the company. I hope that he will still be commissioned by them, or else that Ishimoto will step up his game. (I still think he has promise.)

Boco · 01-20-2010, 01:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jampot

That's a blow for SQEX. What's behind all this, someone in the know? I missed a lot of news last term. Is it a little ungrateful to leave your alma mater just as your highest-profile work is about to be released - and is it a deliberate snub?

I'm just speculating, but I don't think it's a snub so much as it is beneficial timing for Hamauzu. Think about it: what better time to go independent / job hunting than right after completing a huge, international work? With the release of FFXIII Hamauzu will be a household name in the VGM community. He's likely to have all kinds of job offers! Why stay at a large, oppressive company like SE when he could easily set off solo and do his own thing?

I'm willing to bet that Hamauzu has been planning to leave SE for a while now and he was just waiting for his golden opportunity. Obviously, this is it.

Once again, just my speculation. :3

EDIT: Congrats to Hamauzu! I may not be a fan of his, but he's definitely talented and I think he will fare better on his own or, at least, at a different company. It will be interesting to see where he ends up.

weabblewill · 01-20-2010, 07:15 AM

When I come back to hear news like this, it is really sobering. It is the end of an era for SE, gone are the golden age composers.

Chris · 01-20-2010, 07:48 AM

I wouldn't speculate on the reasons behind the departure. I know the reasons and it no way represents a snub to Square Enix. However, Hamauzu can use leaving the company as a great opportunity if he promotes himself right.

As for international soundtrack development, that's what I was told, but I'm not sure exactly what this involved. Hopefully he didn't select the Leona Lewis song!

Raziel · 01-20-2010, 01:22 PM

Don't think it will hurt Square that much, it's not like Hamauzu can't return as a freelancer (like Uematsu).

Raizen1984 · 01-20-2010, 05:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Chris

and further departures from the remaining four composer team will occur in coming months.

So, the rest of the sound team will also be leaving Square Enix? What the hell's going on over there?

Chris · 01-20-2010, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Raizen1984

So, the rest of the sound team will also be leaving Square Enix? What the hell's going on over there?

Not necessarily. Rest assured I'll make a news article as soon as I'm completely sure.

Argentis · 01-20-2010, 09:54 PM

Not really surprised at the news. One could see it coming, as Hamauzu will surely be breaking into other markets aside from VGM (such as anime and films etc) and SE will no doubt commission him as a freelancer.

Jormungand · 01-20-2010, 11:29 PM

I knew it would happen some time, but not this soon. But, as others have written, this is perfect timing. And let's face it--the man can do whatever he wants. By now, everyone in the industry knows how much ass he kicks.

Also, I'm sure he left the company on good terms. And he'll get picked up for future Square projects, if for no other reason than that they'd be stupid not to. The fact is, they know how much of an asset he was--not just as a composer, but as a highly disciplined musician who could arrange and orchestrate circles around his peers.

But, indeed, SE is now without any notable composers to their name. On the bright side, those who remain will have a greater opportunity shine and perhaps reach the pedigree their predecessors now carry with them as freelancers. Hopefully they're up for the challenge. But as it stands now, I can pretty much guarantee FFXV will be scored by someone outside the company.

Rain · 01-21-2010, 10:27 PM

I dunno. An entire Final Fantasy soundtrack of Twister replicas sounds quite enchanting...

Jaime Vargas · 01-22-2010, 08:37 AM

Well, Mizuta is still there and I think he did a great job in FF Gaiden. Put a big spotlight (with FFXV emblazoned on it) on him and it might well be his real breakthrough.

Mac_Tear · 01-22-2010, 09:13 PM

Really interesting news, another big name got away from the SE sound team. I'm pretty sure he will make his way as freelancer, "Final Fantasy XIII" will be the soundtrack everyone will remember from him, so he leaves with a kinda "bang".

Hmm...maybe Uematsu will return...? Nah, I don't think so, but maybe in a few years...? Let's wait and see.

Ashley Winchester · 01-22-2010, 09:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mac_Tear

Really interesting news, another big name got away from the SE sound team. I'm pretty sure he will make his way as freelancer, "Final Fantasy XIII" will be the soundtrack everyone will remember from him, so he leaves with a kinda "bang".

Honestly, when I think of Hamauzu the first thing comes to mind is SaGa Frontier 2 even though I'm not a big fan of it or him...

eriol33 · 05:14 PM

for some reason I can't be really surprised with this turn of event, I actually was surprised how Hamauzu still stay in SE after 15 years? It seems many VGM composers in Japan left the company after they are getting recognized (Mitsuda, Uematsu) because they are confined with exclusive deal with their employers. They can't really leave their company before publishing high profile works.

Hamauzu left in good momentum, because most of his past works were not really getting attention compared to FF series. Seeing opportunity to write the main series, he composed his magnum opus, and left the company as ex-final fantasy composer. Being freelance, I hope he could maintain his quality... when I think of Mitsuda, I feel most of his works these days are just forgettable compared when he was assigned for high profile games in Squaresoft.

but yeah, it's shame like everyone said, SE has no more recognizable composers other than Koichi Sugiyama.

Chris · 01-23-2010, 05:35 PM

Koichi Sugiyama is a freelancer and always has been. In fact, he's rarely directly involved with Square Enix and instead mainly coordinates works through Aniplex, King Records, Chunsoft, or Level 5.

Josh_Barron · 01-24-2010, 06:28 AM

Will the information ever be released as to why Hamauzu left the company?

Rain · 01-28-2010, 05:03 AM

At a guess, he is probably contractually less constricted to write for specific titles and genres. Leaving the company will allow him the ability to branch out and extend his reach further beyond his usual niche.

Ioria M. · 02-05-2010, 11:56 PM

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO this is a tragedy I still hope in a SaGa Frontier III...this is a very bad day for me...

Raizen1984 · 02-06-2010, 12:59 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ioria M.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO this is a tragedy I still hope in a SaGa Frontier III...this is a very bad day for me...

Um, why?

I mean, there are many reasons why a SaGa Frontier III won't get made (mainly that the SaGa games suck), but if they do somehow make one, they can just outsource him. You're dreaming if you think he's going to stop making music.

IvaliceAlliance · 06:19 PM

This really sucks now. Remember back in the late 90's, Square had: Nobuo Uematsu, Masashi Hamauzu, Yasunori Mitsuda, Yoko Shimomura, Hitoshi Sakimoto, Masaharu Iwata, Junya Nakano (The best composers in my opinion). I hope Hamauzu, Nakano and Shimomura join forces with Sakimoto and Basiscape and go epic on everyone,lol! Since Yamaoka joined Suda 51, I was really wanting him to join Basiscape but he will be just fine with them

Raziel · 09:40 PM

Joining Basiscape would be a creative suicide for them, to be honest. I do not like the way Basiscape handles projects at all. At best it's a rather cohesive listening, albeit with really subtle characteristics of the composers; at worst it's just a homogenous Sakimoto where you can't make heads or tails of who composed what and if the track you're listening has already ended (the last thing isn't that bad, of course, I enjoy Berwick Saga a great deal even though I can't remember any stand-out tracks).

Okay, I'm just mad at talent like Chiba fading away. It's not like developers come to Basiscape's door for the junior composers, they want more Sakimoto. But rather than take the project into it's own hand, it's more or less fed to the other members. I'm not accusing Sakimoto, maybe it's just the way how the group works (favor similar styles on one project, so to keep it strong as a whole).

I think most units work this way. Procyon is guilty of the same thing, although the last project (Arc Rise Fantasia or something along the lines of that) showed some variety from the composers (my memory might fail here, though).

SuperSweep, while I'm not a big fan of them, either, hand out more solo projects it seems, and that's good.

Chris · 12:23 AM

I think Masashi Hamauzu would be best-suited as an semi-independent composer still affiliated to a company. I think he'd be a particular asset to Imagine or, if allowed to compose as a solo composer, Procyon Studio. Life as a freelancer is tough, even if one is as talented as Hamauzu, so it's often necessary to have a good studio or an excellent publicist as a back-up.

Raizen1984 · 02-08-2010, 06:53 AM

Totally agree about Basiscape. The talented people on that team like Kaneda and Chiba only seldom get to flex their creative muscles. I have no idea why they insist on having everyone be apart of a project, only to have all of them compose essentially the same thing. If they only want Sakimoto, just hire Sakimoto and leave it at that.

I also agree with Chris on Hamauzu. It makes sense that he would go back to being employed at a company. However, I actually think he would be better suited for film, rather than games. His music appears to be drifting in that direction in my opinion.

Floaple · **Confirmed Masashi Hamauzu Leaves Square Enix -** 03-15-2010, 08:15 PM

Will be interesting to see what Square Enix does with that. Considering their past they can do a lot of good but on the other hand who knows, maybe they will japanify everything and make it suck if they dont just drop the games all together.

Rain · 03-17-2010, 10:57 AM

Square running out of composers/ Need to hire Ogeretsu Kun and Junko Tamiya. (and possibly Motoaki Takenouchi)

I can dream... and I will. But I'm calling possible nighmare scenario if the composer to the infamous 'twister' piece takes the lead reins of the composer department as SE headquarters.

I wish Hamauzu the best and basically agree with Boco. He's been biding his time waiting for a time to broaden his horizons. That time is now and he deserves it.