Hiromichi Tanaka

Who is Hiromichi Tanaka?

Hiromichi Tanaka is a Japanese video game developer, game producer, game director and game designer. He was Senior Vice President of Software Development at Square Enix and the head of the company's Product Development Division-3. He is best known as the former lead developer of Final Fantasy XI, Square's first massively multiplayer online role playing game. He oversaw ongoing development of that title and Final Fantasy XIV until late 2010. He also recently led the development of the Nintendo DS version of Final Fantasy III, having worked in a senior role on the original version of the game in 1990.

In 1983, Tanaka dropped out of Yokohama National University along with Hironobu Sakaguchi to join Square, a newly formed software branch of the Denyuusha Electric Company. Along with Sakaguchi and Kazuhiko Aoki, Tanaka was part of Square's original Planning and Development department.

At Vana Fest 2012, a festival celebrating Final Fantasy XI's 10th anniversary, Tanaka announced his departure from Square-Enix due to health reasons.