Famous for his love of belts and buckles, legendary video game director Tetsuya Nomura says he's considering retirement after an influential career spanning decades. Nomura started as a debugger on Final Fantasy IV in 1991 and, most recently, was the creative director of Final Fantasy VII Rebirth. Love it or leave it, he is also the man most responsible for Kingdom Hearts, directing most of the 15 games the series comprises, and the prime culprit behind its wildly convoluted story.
Nomura, who will turn 54 next month, spoke to Japanese outlet YoungJump (thanks, VGC) about the future of the Kingdom Hearts series. He said: "I only have a few years left until I retire. I have to decide whether to retire first or finish the series first. I’m making Kingdom Hearts IV now with the intention of it being a story that I will complete."
As VGC points out, this is interesting for a few reasons. Publisher Square Enix says that Kingdom Hearts IV begins an "epic new storyline" called the "Lost Master Arc", and it kind of sounds like Nomura wants to see it through. On top of that, he is presumably on the hook to helm the as-yet-unnamed sequel to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth, which seems to contradict his desire to retire.
Nomura, later in the interview, commented on the setting in which Sora and company will find themselves next: "I like worlds that are slightly different from “possible” reality, rather than ones that are too false. It’s the same with movies, but if the world is too fantasy based I can’t really get into it. So, I like settings that are based in Shibuya but not the real Shibuya. Rather than complete fantasy, I think 'unrealistic within reality' fits the fantasy view well."