The departure of Hajime Tabata from Square Enix and Luminous Productions, the latter which he headed, was unexpected. Nevertheless, the show goes on, as the publisher has appointed Takeshi Aramaki as the new studio head for Luminous (as per Game Watch). Aramaki was the lead programmer for Final Fantasy 15, and also in charge of the PC version’s development.
Not a whole lot is known about the projects that Luminous is working on. We know that it’s developing “large-scale, high-quality AAA game titles” along with a “new AAA title for PS5” according to a character modeller’s LinkedIn profile. Previously, the studio was working on new Episodes for Final Fantasy 15, before all but Episode Ardyn were cancelled.
As such, all development is currently focused on the development of a new AAA title. Where Luminous Productions goes under the leadership of Aramaki remains to be seen. At the very least, Final Fantasy 15’s Episode Ardyn will be out in March 2019 for Xbox One, PS4, and PC, so we still have that to look forward to.
