There is a new Luminous Productions studio head in the wake of the previous head’s departure last month.
According to Game Watch, Square Enix today named Takesi Aramaki as the new studio head. He replaces Hajime Tabata, who resigned from both Luminous Productions and Square Enix on November 7.
Aramaki is best known as the lead programmer for Final Fantasy 15, released back in November of 2016. He also led development on the PC version, which was released on March 7 of this year.
This is a quick turnaround for Tabata, who was announced as heading the new studio back in March. He brought in a number of people who worked on Final Fantasy 15, with the intention of creating AAA titles for Square Enix, which it is a subsidiary of.
The news comes as a recent LinkedIn page from a 3D character modeler revealed that Luminous Productions are working on a AAA title that may be coming out for the rumored PlayStation 5. The LinkedIn page also indicated that they are working on a new mobile title for the Chinese market.
The company’s website has a quote from Aramaki, then named vice president of development. They note that they are working on a brand new title, learning from what made Final Fantasy 15 work.
“In developing FF15, we meticulously pursued the potential of games from the open world system to the application of emotion-filled AI,” he is quoted as saying. “This philosophy is ingrained in our staff and Luminous Engine, our proprietary creative tool set, and continues to grow each day.”
Speculation about the PlayStation 5 has mounted in the last year. Sony’s recent actions, which includes not holding a PSX event this year and declining to be a part of E3 for the first time in 2019, has led to speculation that they may be holding off for the next console generation.
Tabata has already announced that he will be heading a new video game company called JP Games.
