Takeharu Ishimoto retiring from Square Enix
After 18 years, composer Takeharu Ishimoto is parting ways with Square Enix. Ishimoto said in a tweet that he was leaving “amicably” and will be working freelance starting in 2018. He started at Square Enix as a synthesizer programmer before composing for titles in 2002. He has been responsible for the soundtracks to the Dissidia: Final Fantasy series and The World Ends With You, as well as contributing to other Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts titles.
長年在籍したSQUARE ENIXを年内で退職する事になりました。円満退社です。
来年からはフリーランスで仕事する予定です。
来年1/11発売のDISSIDIA Final Fantasy NTもよろしくお願い申し上げます。
ありがとうございました! #DFF_NT #DFF_A pic.twitter.com/4cinFrykqx— 石元丈晴 (@ishimoto_music) December 28, 2017
Ishimoto’s last score at Square Enix will be Dissidia Final Fantasy NT, which releases in January. It is likely that he, like other former Square Enix composers, such as Nobuo Uematsu and Yasunori Mitsuda, will freelance on future Square Enix projects.
Posted on December 28, 2017 by Mathew Gallagher. Last modified on January 1, 2018.
I wish him the best of luck freelancing!
*There’s one typo I noticed in the last paragraph: It should be Yasunori “Mitsuda”, not “Matsuda”.
Good catch! Thanks!