Tabata says JP Games is working on two “large-scale” projects in cooperation with “major companies”, though details on what that collaboration entails are scant. One of these projects has just exited pre-production and is described as an evolution of Final Fantasy Type-0. Tabata says this game will be shorter than you’d expect from an RPG, but is hoping to have greater replay value thanks to a multipayer component.

Meanwhile, the second project recently entered pre-production and is described as an evolution of Final Fantasy 15. According to Tabata, the game is a large-scale AAA RPG that will allow for free exploration.

Given that the larger project is in early development, we’re unlikely to hear more about it any time soon, though hopefully, the first project will receive more concrete details in the not-too-distant future. Stay tuned for more details.

Hajime Tabata, the man who bailed Final Fantasy 15 out of a troubled and protracted development cycle, ended up leaving Square Enix abruptly a few weeks ago. The last we heard from him was when he founded a new studio named JP Games, which was great to hear, because he is clearly talented. However, why did he leave Square Enix to begin with?

In a talk show hosted on Nico Nico, Tabata talked about his reasons for leaving Square Enix, noting that he felt he had lost the passion for what he was doing there. He emphasized that his relationship with Square Enix was still on good terms (read: that he was not fired), and that he left out of a desire to not hold the developers at Square back. He also apologized for the cancellation of the Final Fantasy 15 DLC, although he did note that his leaving had nothing to do with any of that.

While it is unclear how much of what he said was the truth—would he really admit it if he had been fired on a public stream?—at the very least, it seems like he doesn’t hold much acrimony towards Square Enix. It’s a shame he had to leave at all, but hopefully, working with JP Games, he can put his own talents to good use, and put out something better, with a more unified, singular, coherent vision than Final Fantasy 15, a victim of a ten year long fractured development cycle, was.