News

Nobuo Uematsu says Fantasian Neo Dimension is his last gaming project as a music composer

The legendary composer has said in several years past that he won't be able to keep making full game soundtracks.

October 15, 2024 12:08 PM

Updated on October 15, 2024 at 7:00 p.m. PT: Nobuo Uematsu took to social media to clarify his earlier statements about his "final project". Uematsu states that he is not retiring from video game music work, instead, he is cutting back a bit in order to have more time to "make the music I want to make". You can read his full statement below, with the original story further down.

Wait, wait, wait!
Everybody calm down!
There seems to be some misunderstanding, but I'm not retiring from video game music work!

I'm going to cut back a bit on my video game music work because I want to have more time to make the music I want to make. It would be difficult for me to take on the entire soundtrack of a video game because the time commitment for composing would be too long, but I would like to continue to work on jobs such as one theme song.

So, we are waiting for your offer to Nobuo Uematsu con TIKI!

Fantasian Neo Dimension is meant to bring one of the latest RPGs of Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi to players on console and PC on December 5, 2024, and with it will come the alleged closing chapter on composer Nobuo Uematsu’s contributions to game music. The legendary Final Fantasy composer lent his talents to Fantasian’s soundtrack, but he has said it will likely be the time he works on a video game project as a composer.

Nobuo Uematsu shared this statement during an ad for Fantasian Neo Dimension, calling out the game’s release date. While the main point was to call out the game’s release date this coming holiday, Uematsu also took the time to share that he feels this will be his last major project in game music:

Watch this special message from #FantasianNeoDimension composer Nobuo Uematsu. pic.twitter.com/2Tk0wawBGF
— FANTASIAN Neo Dimension (@Fantasian_EN) October 15, 2024

This wouldn’t be the first time we’ve heard that Nobuo Uematsu is bowing out of the game industry. After Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth, in which he composed the main theme, Uematsu shared that he simply doesn’t have the energy for a full game’s soundtrack anymore. Nonetheless, Uematsu came back to lend his talents to Fantasian, likely due to his long professional relationship with Sakaguchi. Uematsu has been careful with his health over the last few years as well, already slowing his projects back in 2018.

Hironobu Sakaguchi has shared that Fantasian won’t be his last game after all, but it looks like he’ll have to pursue that last project without Uematsu. As Fantasian Neo Dimension looms in December, stay tuned for more coverage leading up to the game’s release.

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.

Filed Under