Square Enix’s Dragon Quest Builders 2 has been a great success since launching in the West with worldwide shipments crossing 1.1 million units. Even with more updates to come, series director Kazuya Niinou has announced his departure from Square Enix. Niinou had been at the company for seven years and previously served as assistant director for Final Fantasy 14: A Realm Reborn.
In a recent tweet (translated by Gematsu), Niinou said, “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.”
The reason for his departure was revealed in a follow-up tweet, “I have been at Square Enix for about seven years now (my longest yet!). 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.”
Niinou’s departure doesn’t mean that Dragon Quest Builders 2 will be directionless – he’ll serve as external staff for Square Enix and monitor its progress. More information on his own future plans will be revealed next week. In the meantime, Dragon Quest Builders 2’s final update will be coming this month that will essentially wrap up the story. It also contains new features like multiplayer save files, new hairstyles and much more.
Dragon Quest Builders 2 is currently available for PS4 and PC. Check out GamingBolt’s official review or this recent trailer which lists the game’s various accolades.