Mistwalker

at the 2006 Tokyo Game Show Mistwalker was founded in Honolulu, Hawaii by Hironobu Sakaguchi, who had worked at Square since its formation in 1983. He notably conceived and helped develop the role-playing video game Final Fantasy, which saved the company's finances at the time and began a franchise of the same name. Sakaguchi lost prominence within Square with Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, a CGI film based on the Final Fantasy property that he directed. A highly ambitious title, it greatly exceeded its budget and was a box office bomb, which damaged Square's finances, delayed their planned merger with Enix, and prompted Sakaguchi to step away from direct involvement with future Square productions. In 2001, with Square in the red for the first time since inception, Sakaguchi resigned from his position at Square along with two other senior executives. His main reason for this was the growing administrative duties he was having to handle in his senior position, something that kept him away from game production. He signed an agreement with Square to act as executive producer for Final Fantasy games. While Sakaguchi continued to receive credits as executive producer, he described himself as "doing nothing" in Hawaii over the following three years, having been demoralized by the movie's failure. At one point, he felt guilty about his lack of contributions to the industry. Motivated to return to the game industry and create his own original properties, Sakaguchi got into contact with his friends artists Akira Toriyama and Takehiko Inoue about possibly collaborating on game projects. He left Square in 2003, with his last credit with the company being Final Fantasy X-2. Mistwalker was officially formed in July 2004, although its trademark existed as early as 2001. Mistwalker is noted as being one of a group of video game companies—alongside Sacnoth, Love-de-Lic and Monolith Soft—founded by Square staff who had worked on notable games produced during the 1990s. Some of the funds for its foundation came from Microsoft through its Japanese game division. The studio offices are based in Honolulu, Hawaii, and Tokyo, Japan. ==History==

2004–2011 The concept work for Mistwalker's first two projects, Blue Dragon and Lost Odyssey, began prior to the formation of the company, with Sakaguchi enlisting both Toriyama and Inoue, and contacts within Microsoft Game Studios Japan (MGSJ). ==Games==

During its early days, rather than developing titles themselves, Mistwalker would oversee production. It would act as a concept studio with a staff of at most twenty people, outsourcing most of development to chosen production partners. The studio was described by Sakaguchi as a collective of elite developers similar to a Hollywood studio. This approach of a concept studio that moves freely between development partners is rare in Japan, where larger corporations and studios with sizeable teams is the norm. Many of the companies Mistwalker worked with would eventually become first subsidiaries of and then be absorbed into AQ Interactive, including Artoon, Feelplus and Cavia. A notable team member at Mistwalker from 2009 onwards was artist Kimihiko Fujisaka, known for his work on the Drakengard series. In later years, a second artist called Takatoshi Goto would contribute to titles, being described as Fujisaka's protegee. Another recurring artist is Manabu Kusunoki, known for his work on the Panzer Dragoon series. Under Artoon and later Arzest, Kusunoki contributed concept art and in-game illustrations to multiple projects. A recurring musical collaborator is composer Nobuo Uematsu, who also worked on the Final Fantasy series. ==Notes==