Hironobu Sakaguchi, the man behind the creation of the ubiquitous Final Fantasy series, is to be presented with a lifetime achievement award at the Annual Game Developers Choice Awards.
Sakaguchi was the Director of Planning and Development at Square Company (long before it became Square Enix) when he created the first instalment of Final Fantasy. Little did he know it would go on to spawn 13 sequels: the title Final Fantasy was actually a reference to Hironobu Sakaguchi’s plans to move away from game development and so would be his final game if the title proved to be unsuccessful. Obviously later deciding against his plans to leave, Sakaguchi went on to aid production of many other prolific titles during his time at Square, including Kingdom Hearts, Parasite Eve and Vagrant Story.
In 2004 he founded Mistwalker, a development studio where other big name games were created, including Lost Odyssey, Blue Dragon, Terra Battle and The Last Story.
It’s save to say that Sakaguchi has made a massive impact on the gaming industry – nothing highlights this more than the fact that since its release in 1987, the Final Fantasy series has sold more than 110 million units worldwide.
The lifetime achievement recipient is selected by an advisory committee, made up of other notable people in the industry. The awards take place on 4 March as part of the 2015 Game Developers Conference. The ceremony will be streamed live on Twitch and GameSpot, and more information can be found on the official website at http://www.gamechoiceawards.com.
