Naoki Hamaguchi

Naoki Hamaguchi
浜口直樹
Born
Japan
Alma materHAL Nagoya College of Technology & Design
Occupation(s)Video game director, programmer
Years active2006–present
EmployerSquare Enix (since 2006)
Notable workFinal Fantasy XIII trilogy
Mobius Final Fantasy
Final Fantasy VII Remake
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth

Naoki Hamaguchi (浜口直樹, Hamaguchi Naoki) is a Japanese video game programmer and director. He currently works at Square Enix.

Career

Hamaguchi was heavily inspired to make games after playing Final Fantasy VI, wanting to make a game of its quality. In 2003, he graduated from HAL Nagoya College of Technology & Design and in the same year entered the games industry.[1]

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. In March 2018, Hamaguchi stepped down from his role of Mobius Final Fantasy Project Leader in order to focus on Final Fantasy VII Remake. Former Mobius battle planner Takashi Shiraga replaced Hamaguchi as Mobius Final Fantasy Project Leader.[2]

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.[3]

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.[4]

Works

Year Title Role
2006 Final Fantasy XII Visual effects: Real-time rendering
2009 Final Fantasy XIII Lead cutscene programmer, Crystal Tools development staff
2010 Final Fantasy XIV Client programmer
2011 Final Fantasy XIII-2 Lead application programmer
2013 Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII Main programmer
2015 Mobius Final Fantasy Project leader
2020 Final Fantasy VII Remake Co-director (Game design/programming)
2021 Final Fantasy VII: The First Soldier Supervisory support
2024 Final Fantasy VII Rebirth Director

References

  1. ^ "BIG HAL大賞『LIGHTNING RETURNS : FINAL FANTASY XIII 』のメインプログラマーを担当したスクウェア・エニックスの浜口直樹氏に「BIG HAL大賞」を授与。|ニュース&リポート|専門学校 HAL". www.hal.ac.jp (in Japanese). 2014-06-14. Retrieved 2024-02-27.
  2. ^ https://twitter.com/mobiusff/status/978947657149267968. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
  3. ^ Baird, Scott (2019-04-01). "Longtime Square Enix Developer Naoki Hamaguchi Promoted To Co-Director On FFVII Remake". TheGamer. Retrieved 2024-02-27.
  4. ^ Behan, Daire (2021-02-25). "Tetsuya Nomura Will Not Direct Final Fantasy 7 Remake Part 2". Game Rant. Retrieved 2024-02-27.