Yoshinori Kitase

Biography

Yoshinori Kitase (北瀬 佳範, Kitase Yoshinori) is a Japanese game producer and former game director who has been working for Square Enix since 1990. He has directed four Final Fantasy games: Final Fantasy VI (1994), Final Fantasy VII (1997), Final Fantasy VIII (1999), and Final Fantasy X (2001). Yoshinori became a producer after Hironobu Sakaguchi promoted him to the position. He made his debut as a producer with Final Fantasy X (2001), while simultaneously directing the title. Since then, he has produced Final Fantasy X-2 (2003), the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII (2004–2009), the Final Fantasy XIII trilogy (2009–2013), Mobius Final Fantasy (2015), and Final Fantasy VII Remake (2020). He was the division executive of Square Enix's Business Division 1 and also a member of the Final Fantasy Committee. He is currently an executive officer and member of the board of directors of Square Enix Co., Ltd., and the vice president of Creative Business Unit I. He was named the brand manager for the Final Fantasy series in April 2021, taking over for Shinji Hashimoto. Since June 2022, Kitase became a member of the board of directors of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. as well.