View source for Hiromichi Tanaka

[[File:Fan festival 2007 - live concert hiromichi tanaka.jpg|thumb|Hiromichi Tanaka at [[Fan Festival 2007]]]]
'''Hiromichi Tanaka''' (born January 7, 1962) was the former Producer of [[Final Fantasy XI]] from the beginning of development until 2012. He left the company in 2012 due to "health reasons" and joined GungHo Online Entertainment in the same year.

In 1983, Tanaka dropped out of Yokohama National University along with [[Hironobu Sakaguchi]] and joined Square. Along with Sakaguchi and Kazuhiko Aoki, Tanaka was part of Square's original Planning and Development department. In 1996, Square opened a studio in Honolulu, Hawaii; where staff worked on the upcoming movie '''Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within'''. During the evenings, they found a lack of agreeable activities in their new location. It is here where Sakaguchi became addicted to EverQuest, who promptly got the rest of the team into the game.

When Sony announced the PlayStation 2 would have a HDD attachment available that could be used to handle game updates, the two became convinced Square could produce their own MMO. It is at this point that work began on the game.

During his tenure on Final Fantasy XI, Tanaka oversaw development of the game. To players in the West, he was the most visible member of the development team and often took the brunt of criticisms from players. Players accused him of incorrectly "[[Balance|balancing]]" the game.

When development on [[Final Fantasy XIV]] began, Tanaka was in charge of both games. When Final Fantasy XIV's initial launch wasn't well received and garnered a poor reputation by players and press alike, he was soon replaced by [[Naoki Yoshida]] on that game. Tanaka continued his role on FFXI.

At the [[Vana'diel Fan Festival 2012]], Tanaka announced he was departing from Square Enix due to "health reasons," [https://www.famitsu.com/news/201206/24016883.html later stating] he had a difficult disease that affected his well-being. Years later, he revealed publicly that around the time of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_T%C5%8Dhoku_earthquake_and_tsunami March 2011 Tohoku earthquake], he had a lengthy hospitalization due to this illness for the first time.

Tanaka also cited a desire to work as a "single creator" on future development projects. He felt with his disease, he wouldn't be able to perform to the same capacity he was used to as operations manager of a global online game. He joined GungHo Online Entertainment the same year as a freelance advisor.

He named [[Akihiko Matsui]] as his successor on FFXI.

In 2021, he was the first interview subject for the [[We Are Vana'diel]] website.
[[Category:Square Enix Staff]]