By Zhaan 
In 2003, the two JRPG juggernauts Squaresoft and Enix combined into one, forever changing both companies and the future of their video game franchises. Before this, Squaresoft had released a slew of successful games and was beloved by millions of fans. However, this success was offset by the disastrous failure of a certain movie called Final Fantasy: Spirits Within.
You’re probably heard this tale many times before. The film’s director and Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi left the company shortly before the merger, with veteran composer Nobuo Uematsu quitting some time later. The two would eventually form a new studio called Mistwalker.
Now, I feel ashamed to admit this since I’m a certified fanboy of his, but I’ve just now learned that Uematsu has a podcast! I don’t speak Japanese so it probably wouldn’t be of much use to me, but I should’ve known that. Anyways, Uematsu recently had ’The Gooch’ (Sakaguchi) as a guest on his podcast and they discussed their time at Squaresoft, and how it felt working there after the merger. Interestingly, Uematsu revealed that the company sort of “collapsed” after Sakaguchi left.
Credit goes to Automaton Media for these quotes/translations.
On the early days of Squaresoft:
“To put it simply – he is the big boss. Always has been and always will be”, Uematsu stated. “Sakaguchi was able to manage the work even in that kind of environment. We didn’t even have a proper corporate organization, yet everybody listened to him. It’s a kind of quality you just have to be born with.”
He continues, commenting on the post-merger situation:
“Maybe Sakaguchi isn’t aware of this, but the situation at Square was awful after he quit. He left and the organization suddenly collapsed. I thought to myself – Oh no, I should get away from here.”
This story is probably being oversensationalized a bit in gaming circles, but it sounds like Sakaguchi was basically the glue holding the company together in its early years, and that’s not hard to believe.
I remember that some fans were let down by Square Enix’s output after the merger, and to some extent I can relate to that. Still, some of my favourite games of all time came out in the following years, such as Final Fantasy XII, Dragon Quest VIII, Crisis Core, Tactics A2, just to mention a few.
Those early 2000s were certainly an interesting time for us Square/Enix fans.
Source(s): Automaton Media | Gamer.no