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Dragon Quest Builders series director Kazuya Niinou has left Square Enix, as announced on Twitter (via Gematsu).
‘With development on Builders 2 completed, I have left Square Enix. To Naoki Yoshida, Noriyoshi Fujimoto, Takuma Shiraishi, all of my colleagues, and everyone who enjoyed the games I made, thank you so much! I truly appreciate your support,’ Niinou stated on Twitter.
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— æ–°ç´ä¸€å“‰ (@Nino_Kazuya) August 23, 2019
Niinou is off on an adventure to a new studio, though he can’t share details about that until next week. ‘I have been at Square Enix for about seven years now (my longest yet!),’ he explained his decision, ‘I felt a little burned out with Builders 2 and wanted to try out a development cycle different from Square Enix, so I set out for a new development environment.’
He then assured fans that he will continue to act as external staff for Square Enix and for Dragon Quest Builders 2. Niinou is known for his directorial work on Trauma Center: Under the Knife, Etrian Odyssey, and Final Fantasy XIV Online: A Realm Reborn. Based on his accolades, we could speculate that he will oversee development of another JRPG elsewhere, but for now we’ll wait for Niinou to announce his next move.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 is out now for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch.
