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Final Fantasy & Kingdom Hearts veteran producer Shinji Hashimoto retires

The veteran producer had worked on titles as far back as Final Fantasy 7 and was most recently a franchise brand manager for Square Enix.

TJ Denzer

May 31, 2022 10:12 AM

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A longtime veteran is leaving Square Enix on good terms today. Shinji Hashimoto has been a lead producer with the company on a long series of major projects going back to the original Final Fantasy 7 and including the entire Kingdom Hearts series. He was working as a franchise brand manager until recently, but as of today, Shinji Hashimoto has announced he is officially leaving Square Enix to retire.

Hashimoto made his official announcement of retirement from Square Enix via his personal Twitter on May 31, 2022. According to Hashimoto, the exit was on good terms and he’ll still support Square Enix projects from the outside from now on.

Today, Tuesday, May 31, I will be retiring,” Hashimoto wrote in his tweet. “I would like to thank everyone in various fields for their support during my tenure. From now on, I would like to support you as a Square Enix fan. Thank you very much.”

Shinji Hashimoto’s tenure with Square Enix was quite prolific. It dates back to 1995 where he worked as a producer on the first Front Mission games. He also worked as a promotions producer on Final Fantasy 7 and would go on to be a lead producer on the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series for every game since, up to and including Kingdom Hearts 3, Final Fantasy XV, and Neo: The World Ends With You. That is to say, his contributions were pretty prolific across much of Square Enix’s popular franchises and gaming catalogue. In more recent years, Hashimoto worked as a brand manager for the Final Fantasy franchise, overseeing its business and marketing aspects up until choosing to step down from the role in 2021.

Shinji Hashimoto has had a big hand in Square Enix’s success and it would seem he’s coming to a much-deserved end of his road with it. As he closes out his tenure with Square Enix, Shacknews wishes him well for a job well done across decades on some of our favorite Square Enix games.

TJ Denzer

Senior News Editor

TJ Denzer is a player and writer with a passion for games that has dominated a lifetime. He found his way to the Shacknews roster in late 2019 and has worked his way to Senior News Editor since. Between news coverage, he also aides notably in livestream projects like the indie game-focused Indie-licious, the Shacknews Stimulus Games, and the Shacknews Dump. You can reach him at tj.denzer@shacknews.com and also find him on Twitter @JohnnyChugs.