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Hideo Baba left Square Enix in March

KoolAid

Member
Oct 25, 2017
6,675
Lmao

Rip that project I guess

One more victim of square showing stuff way too early
 
SinCityAssassin

SinCityAssassin

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,171
Tzarscream said:
Baba Is Gone
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Zanasea

Zanasea

Member
Oct 28, 2017
52
France
KoolAid said:
One more victim of square showing stuff way too early
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In that case they more or less needed to show stuff early because Studio Istolia was founded with the purpose of making new games, so they needed to show what they were doing in order to attract new recruits. It's a common practice. But SE has a lot of trouble hiring people as of late (hence the recent restructuring, Matsuda is hoping this would streamline development process), so the project might be in trouble because of that.
 
RestEerie

RestEerie

Banned
Aug 20, 2018
13,618
totally unrelated but Hideo Baba's name written in Kanji is something special...馬場 英雄 especially if you understand mandarin chinese.

On topic, i think he'll be a great fit at Bamco.
 
Zen Hero

Zen Hero

Member
Oct 25, 2017
5,627
I wonder why. Hopefully it was the best for everyone.

I wonder if the game will continue. It looked interesting for sure.
 

Mattersnotnow

Member
Jan 15, 2018
1,003
Can we blame SQEX already?


j/k

But goddamn do they give us reasons to suspect things are a mess internally
 
Strings

Strings

Member
Oct 27, 2017
31,360
Was not expecting that.

Maybe they had too much trouble hiring folks for the team he was heading? SE has had a ton of hardship getting qualified locals for the past couple of years (everyone in Japan has). The trailer we saw for this project was literally a recruitment ad, since it ended with a call for applicants.
 
GongagaSOLDIER

GongagaSOLDIER

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,297
I wonder if this has to do with the restructuring? Would his role possibly have changed as part of it? It will definitely be interesting to see where he ends up next anyway.
 
Strings

Strings

Member
Oct 27, 2017
31,360
Looked at the article. He stepped down as head of the team in December, then left SE in March.
 
wrowa

wrowa

Member
Oct 25, 2017
4,371
That's disappointing, was really looking forward to what he'd be able to achieve at SE.

Hopefully Studio Istolia and their project survive, though.
 

Deleted member 5535

User requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
13,656
Mattersnotnow said:
Can we blame SQEX already?


j/k

But goddamn do they give us reasons to suspect things are a mess internally
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It's not internally, it's an external company that was literally created for Baba.

GongagaSOLDIER said:
I wonder if this has to do with the restructuring? Would his role possibly have changed as part of it? It will definitely be interesting to see where he ends up next anyway.
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No, because Stolia isn't a Business Division but a external company owned by SE

Plywood said:
Does Square just break people? Like what the hell.
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It breaks as much as any video game company does. lol In this case, idk what happened considering that the guy had a studio of his own where he was the head.
 

Deleted member 2793

User requested account closure
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Oct 25, 2017
15,368
Nemesis162 said:
People enter and go out of companies all the time. If you're not Nintendo, of course. lol
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You're right, but to be fair Japan has this "superstar" dev thing that companies push and Tabata leaving like he did and Baba leaving early without finishing anything both look very unusual when they're in this "star" category.
 
CaviarMeths

CaviarMeths

Avenger
Oct 25, 2017
10,655
Western Canada
Yeah SE should really stop trying to turn their developers into rockstars. It's really not working out great for them.

I guess internal hype for Project Whatever matched the external hype.
 
Fisico

Fisico

Member
Oct 27, 2017
2,106
Paris
Nemesis162 said:
People enter and go out of companies all the time. If you're not Nintendo, of course. lol
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Less so in Japan but it's becoming more frequent lately.

As for Baba it's two companies he left in a 2-3y span, the latest being one where he was the head of an external studio specifically created for a project that has yet to be released.
From the get go it was odd that he also wasn't at the forefront of the new company picture, might have been a sign.

If anything the first conclusion to draw (which might be wrong mind) is that something is wrong with Baba, he worked for 2y or so and delivered nothing.
Now if later on Prelude Rune is cancelled or we hear things about Square-Enix promising stuff to him that they didn't deliver (like budget or creative freedom) it would change the outlook, let's see if he's able to get hired somewhere else as well or not.
 
Kouriozan

Kouriozan

Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,047
What studio Baba will join next? You'll find out in the next episode.
2 big names leaving Square Enix in a short time is a big worrying though.
 
LiquidSolid

LiquidSolid

Member
Oct 26, 2017
4,731
CaviarMeths said:
Yeah SE should really stop trying to turn their developers into rockstars. It's really not working out great for them.

I guess internal hype for Project Whatever matched the external hype.
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Uh, what? Hideo Baba was a notable name long before Square Enix hired him.

Anyway, huh. Seeing as this just so happens to coincide with Square Enix restructuring from 11 Business Divisions down to 4, I have to assume that's the reason for this. It'll be interesting to see what happens with his former studio and new IP going forward, it looked rough at TGS.
 
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