Square Enix artist Toshiyuki Momose retires after 34 years working at the company

Toshiyuki Momose, a game artist working for Square Enix, has announced that he is leaving the company at the end of the fiscal year in March 2025, as he has reached the mandatory retirement age. 

Momose also included reminiscences of his works during his career in the tweet thread. He joined Square in 1991 and was immediately placed in the development team for SaGa 3: Jikuu no Hasha, which is known in the West as Final Fantasy Legend III. Momose then worked as an animator in the 1992 SNES entry Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest, and he reminisced about how he had to draw all the pixels.

The artist also reminisced about the foreign trips he took in relation to his job. He went to Moscow to gather inspiration for the opening movie of the 1997 PS1 game Final Fantasy Tactics. He also worked on Parasite Eve and Final Fantasy IX while staying in Hawaii.

While Momose was also involved in Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII, The 3rd Birthday, and Final Fantasy Type-0 HD, he especially noted Final Fantasy XV and Forspoken as "craggy mountain trails." This is because he was part of the ill-fated Luminous Productions. The last title he worked on in Square Enix was Final Fantasy XVI, as a cinematic artist.

Even though Toshiyuki Momose had to leave Square Enix due to reaching retirement age, he noted at the end of the thread that his "battle" is still not over yet and there are still some things he wants to draw in the near future.