Series Director for Dragon Quest Builders Leaves Square Enix

The series director for the acclaimed Dragon Quest Builders series, Kazuya Niinou, has departed from his tenure with Square Enix. Niinou made the announcement earlier this week as he said adios to the company he was with for the last seven years. The leave comes after the recent successful release of Dragon Quest Builders 2 which was a highly demanded title from fans of the series.

His official translated announcement from Google is as follows:

“With the end of development of Builders 2, I retired from Square Enix. I would like to thank Yoshida-san, Fujino-san, Shiraishi-san, all of my colleagues, and everyone who enjoyed the games I made! First of all, thank you.

I have been at Square Enix for 7 years (the longest time I have ever lived!). I felt a little burned out in Builders 2 and wanted to try to develop a cycle different from Sukueni, so I decided to leave for a new development environment.

I’ve already decided to do it, and I’d like to talk about it again next week. I would like to do my best in game development, so please look forward to it.

In addition, I am still planning to watch over Builders 2, and will continue to work with Sukueni as an external staff. (There is no DLC or update …!) I’d like to speak a little bit, so please look forward to it.

Speaking of Builders, I received a lot of guidance from Mr. Horii and was able to study really well. I will cherish this experience and use it for future game development.” – Kazuya Niinou

While Niinou moving on may be a bit worrisome for some fans of the series, it’s promising knowing that Niinou will still provide support for Dragon Quest Builders 2 as an external developer – even though he clearly points out there’s no DLC planned for the game (or is there?)

Niinou leaving square Enix is one of several departures of game developers form studios, including two from Bioware alone. It’s a constantly moving industry after all and these creative minds stay fresh by moving onto different visions and projects to ensure their creativity never stalls out.

Dragon Quest Builders 2 release last month in the west for the Switch and PS4.

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Source: Games Talk via Gematsu