Shinji Hashimoto (橋本 真司, Hashimoto Shinji, born May 24, 1958) is a Japanese former game producer at Square Enix and currently senior advisor at Sony Music Entertainment Japan and a board member at Forwardworks. He served as the Final Fantasy series brand manager for over a decade, was an executive officer at Square Enix board of directors[1] and he was the Head of Square Enix's Business Division 3 for 6 years.[2] He is also the co-creator of the Kingdom Hearts series. He served as corporate executive of the company's 1st Production Department during its entire existence.[3]

Shinji Hashimoto
橋本 真司
Hashimoto in 2015
Born (1958-05-24) May 24, 1958 (age 66)
Alma materKomazawa University
OccupationVideo game producer
Years active1995–2022
Employer(s)Square (1995–2003)
Square Enix (2003–2022)
Sony Music Entertainment Japan (2022–present)
TitleSenior Advisor

In May 2021, Hashimoto announced he would be working in Square Enix Holdings as Corporate Advisor training future leaders of the company, after he stepped down from his position of executive director and Final Fantasy brand manager at Square Enix Co.[4]

Hashimoto retired from his duties at Square Enix on May 31, 2022.[5] On June 16, 2022, Hashimoto announced he would be a senior advisor at Sony Music Entertainment Japan, as well as board member for ForwardWorks. [6]

Biography

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Early work

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Hashimoto previously worked for the toy company Bandai.[7] He joined Squaresoft (later known as Square Enix) in 1995, which is where he spent the rest of his career.[8]

Final Fantasy

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He was the promotions producer for Final Fantasy VII.[8] When asked at E3 2008 about the possibility of a remake of Final Fantasy VII, he said that Square Enix is aware fans would like that, and that they are very busy making other titles first.[9] As Final Fantasy X-2 and Kingdom Hearts were being completed, the learning experience the team had during the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII project spawned the Fabula Nova Crystallis series which was supposed to build on it.[10]

Kingdom Hearts

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When Square was sharing a building in Tokyo with the Disney corporation, Hashimoto found himself conversing in an elevator with a Disney executive, and there they conceived the crossover between Square Enix and Disney called Kingdom Hearts.[11] Hashimoto has stated that the new features in Kingdom Hearts II were the result of the success of the first game and Disney's increased trust in Square Enix to pull off an excellent product.[12]

Other games

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While working on Front Mission Evolved, one of the challenges was balancing the speed of the real time battles the wanzers, or mechs, were having so that the game was realistic to the mechs size, but also still fast enough to be engaging.[13]

Priorities

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While discussing Final Fantasy XIII, Hashimoto mentioned that Square Enix has been attempting to make localization of their game releases close the release gap between Japan and the rest of the world.[14]

Works

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Video games

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Year Title Role
1986 Kidō Senshi Z-Gundam: Hot Scramble Marketing
1989 Famicom Jump: Hero Retsuden Producer
1991 Famicom Jump II: Saikyō no Shichinin
1993 Dragon Ball Z
JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Executive producer
1994 Dragon Ball Z 2: Super Battle Producer
1995 Front Mission
1996 Front Mission: Gun Hazard Executive producer
Treasure Hunter G Producer
Tobal No. 1 Executive producer
1997 Final Fantasy VII Publicity producer
Tobal 2 Producer
Front Mission 2 Executive producer
Einhander
Front Mission Alternative Producer
Chocobo's Mysterious Dungeon Executive producer
1998 Soukaigi
Ehrgeiz Supervisor
1999 Final Fantasy VIII Producer
Chocobo Racing
Cyber Org
2000 Driving Emotion Type-S
Final Fantasy IX
The Bouncer
2001 Wild Card
2002 Kingdom Hearts
2004 Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories
2005 Final Fantasy IV Advance Executive producer
Kingdom Hearts II Producer
2006 Final Fantasy V Advance Executive producer
Final Fantasy VI Advance
Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales
2007 Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories Producer
The World Ends with You
Final Fantasy Fables: Chocobo's Dungeon Executive producer
2008 Kingdom Hearts coded
Dissidia Final Fantasy
2009 Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days
Final Fantasy XIII
2010 Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep
Lufia: Curse of the Sinistrals
Front Mission Evolved Producer, original concept
Kingdom Hearts Re:coded Executive producer
The 3rd Birthday
2011 Dissidia 012 Final Fantasy
Imaginary Range Producer
Final Fantasy Type-0 Executive producer
Final Fantasy XIII-2
2012 Theatrhythm Final Fantasy
Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance
2013 Final Fantasy All the Bravest
Kingdom Hearts HD 1.5 Remix
Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII
Final Fantasy X/X-2 HD Remaster
2014 Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call
Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix
Final Fantasy Explorers
2015 Kingdom Hearts Unchained χ
2016 World of Final Fantasy Producer
Final Fantasy XV
2017 Kingdom Hearts HD 2.8 Final Chapter Prologue Executive producer
2018 Dissidia Final Fantasy NT
2019 Kingdom Hearts III
Left Alive Producer
2020 Final Fantasy VII Remake Executive producer
2021 Neo: The World Ends with You

Films

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Year Title Role
2005 Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Producer
Last Order: Final Fantasy VII Executive producer
2009 Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children Complete Producer
2016 Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV

References

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  1. ^ "Board of Directors". Square Enix. 2016.
  2. ^ "第3ビジネス・ディビジョン". Square Enix. 2016. Archived from the original on June 6, 2017. Retrieved June 2, 2016.
  3. ^ "「Final Fantasy XIII-2」が2011年発売予定,「Agito」は「Final Fantasy 零式」と名称変更して2011年夏発売。「Square Enix 1st Production Department Premiere」をTwitterで実況". 4Gamer.net (in Japanese). Aetas, Inc. January 18, 2011. Archived from the original on January 20, 2011. Retrieved January 19, 2011.
  4. ^ @shinjihashimot3 (May 21, 2021). "Hi everyone.I will be stepping down..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  5. ^ "Square Enix producer Shinji Hashimoto retires". Gematsu (in Japanese). May 31, 2022. Retrieved May 31, 2022.
  6. ^ @shinjihashimot3 (June 16, 2022). "Hello, everyone! I have some news to share, if you can please take a look" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  7. ^ Winkler, Chris (September 29, 2003). "Radical Subjects". RPGFan. Archived from the original on December 15, 2011. Retrieved April 16, 2013.
  8. ^ a b Gantayat, Anoop (April 23, 2007). "Ten Years of FFXIII". IGN. Retrieved May 30, 2008.
  9. ^ Ihtsham, Usman (July 18, 2008). "Whatifgaming E3-'08: Final Fantasy XIII Sit Down With Shinji Hashimoto". Whatifgaming. Archived from the original on January 14, 2013. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
  10. ^ Luke Smith (June 7, 2006). "FFXIII Interview: Nomura, Kitase, Hashimoto and Toriyama: Compilation of games puts new spin on FF series". 1UP.com. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
  11. ^ McKinley Noble (January 20, 2008). "10 strange facts about the Kingdom Hearts franchise". PC World Australia. Archived from the original on March 13, 2013. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
  12. ^ Jeremy Dunham (March 21, 2005). "Hashimoto Talks Kingdom Hearts II". IGN. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
  13. ^ Charles Husemann (October 19, 2008). "Front Mission Evolved Interview". Gaming Nexus. Retrieved March 1, 2013.
  14. ^ Shane Bettenhausen (July 16, 2008). "E3 2008: One More Final Fantasy XIII Interview". 1UP.com. Retrieved March 1, 2013.