Naoki Hamaguchi

Naoki Hamaguchi is an employee at Square Enix who has worked on the Final Fantasy series since Final Fantasy XII (2006). He is a member of Square Enix's Business Division 1.
==Profile==
Hamaguchi was heavily inspired to make games after playing Final Fantasy VI, wanting to make a game of its quality.https://www.hal.ac.jp/cross/report/2412 In 2003, he graduated from HAL Nagoya College of Technology & Design and in the same year entered the games industry.https://www.hal.ac.jp/cross/report/2412
After working as a programmer on the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy, Hamaguchi was appointed Project Leader of Mobius Final Fantasy. He was involved with Final Fantasy VII Remake from the start of its development, but later in development was promoted to the role of Development Leader when the project switched to using a primarily internal development structure.https://gematsu.com/2017/05/final-fantasy-vii-remake-development-shifts-external-cooperation-internal-focus Hamaguchi is in charge of putting Business Division 1 in order concerning Final Fantasy VII Remake due to the project's director Tetsuya Nomura not belonging to a specific Business Division which allows Nomura to take on his various roles.https://gematsu.com/2017/07/kingdom-hearts-iii-less-disney-worlds-kingdom-hearts-ii-final-fantasy-vii-remake-along-areas
In March 2018, Hamaguchi stepped down from his role of Mobius Final Fantasy Project Leader in order to focus on Final Fantasy VII Remake.http://www.finalfantasyunion.com/news/3784/naoki-hamaguchi-steps-aside-on-mobius-final-fantasy-to-focus-on-final-fantasy-vii-remake/ Former Mobius battle planner Takashi Shiraga replaced Hamaguchi as Mobius Final Fantasy Project Leader.
In April 2019, during the restructuring of the company's business divisions, Hamaguchi was promoted as co-director on Final Fantasy VII Remake alongside Nomura, making it his first directorial debut.
In February 2021, it was announced that Nomura will be stepping down as director on future Final Fantasy VII Remake titles to focus on other projects, and that Hamaguchi would become the new main director while Nomura would remain as creative director.
==Works within the series==
Game 	Release	Work
Final Fantasy XII 	2006 	Visual Effects: Real-Time Rendering
Final Fantasy XIII 	2009 	Lead Cut Scene ProgrammerCrystal Tools Development Staff
Final Fantasy XIV 	2010 	Client Programming
Final Fantasy XIII-2 	2011 	Lead Application Programmer
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII	2013 	Main Programmer
Mobius Final Fantasy 	2015 	Project Leader
Final Fantasy VII Remake 	2020 	Co-director (Game Design/Programming)
Final Fantasy VII The First Soldier 	2021 	Supervisory Support
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth 	2024 	Director
==References==
Category:Personnel