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group=lower-alpha is an American and Japanese video game development studio. The company was founded in 2004 by Hironobu Sakaguchi, best known for creating the Final Fantasy series. The company has created both game franchises such as Blue Dragon and Terra Battle, and standalone titles including Lost Odyssey (2007) and The Last Story (2011). With the financial problems caused by , and his growing dissatisfaction with management, Sakaguchi decided that he wanted to make games outside Square. Mistwalker's first two titles were Xbox 360 RPGs; Blue Dragon (2006) and Lost Odyssey. Following The Last Story for Wii, Sakaguchi and Mistwalker changed to focus on in-house mobile titles. The original Terra Battle saw widespread success and acclaim, leading to further mobile projects.
Mistwalker has been described by Sakaguchi as a collective of artists that oversee projects, with its independent small-scale structure setting it apart from most other Japanese game studios. Sakaguchi has commented that his aim with Mistwalker was to create innovative game titles regardless of platform, rather than staying with home consoles or mobile platforms alone. During its first years, Mistwalker co-developed console titles with other developers including Artoon, Feelplus, and tri-Crescendo. They would also work with Cavia on the cancelled Cry On. Recurring individual collaborators include composer Nobuo Uematsu, and artists Kimihiko Fujisaka and Manabu Kusunoki.
While Sakaguchi continued to receive credits as executive producer, he described himself as "doing nothing" in Hawaii over the following three years, having been demoralized by the movie's failure. At one point, he felt guilty about his lack of contributions to the industry. Motivated to return to the game industry and create his own original properties, Sakaguchi got into contact with his friends artists Akira Toriyama and Takehiko Inoue about possibly collaborating on game projects. He left Square in 2003, with his last credit with the company being Final Fantasy X-2. Mistwalker was officially formed in July 2004, although its trademark existed as early as 2001. Mistwalker is noted as being one of a group of video game companies—alongside Sacnoth, Love-de-Lic and Monolith Soft—founded by Square staff who had worked on notable games produced during the 1990s. Some of the funds for its foundation came from Microsoft through its Japanese game division. The studio offices are based in Honolulu, Hawaii, and Tokyo, Japan.
Blue Dragon was released in 2006. It went on to spawn a media franchise that included multiple sequels, manga adaptations, and an anime television series. ASH: Archaic Sealed Heat and Lost Odyssey were released in 2007. Cry On was ultimately cancelled by publisher AQ Interactive in 2008, a decision attributed to then-current market conditions. Mistwalker led production on for the DS, which was released in 2008; Sakaguchi wrote the scenario, while the character designs were handled by Sega veteran Naoto Ohshima. Following his work on Lost Odyssey, Sakaguchi took feedback from both that game and Blue Dragon and decided to create more atypical action-based gameplay alongside continuing storyline innovation. The Last Story for Wii was originally a science fiction-themed game with a dedicated romantic plot, but through Nintendo's input, it shifted to being a fantasy-based storyline with a general theme of companionship. Releasing in 2011, The Last Story was Sakaguchi's first work as a director since Final Fantasy V (1992).
Terra Battle proved to be a worldwide success, prompting Sakaguchi to expand it into a larger franchise that included a direct sequel Terra Battle 2 co-developed with Silicon Studio, and a spin-off titled Terra Wars, which made use of Clay animation incorporated into the game. As of 2017, he was also planning out a third mainline Terra Battle title. By 2020, all three Terra Battle titles had been shut down; Terra Battle 2 and Terra Wars were closed due to mixed reactions and trouble updating them based on feedback, while Terra Battle shut down after nearly six years due to growing difficulties keeping the game's quality high. After replaying Final Fantasy VI, Sakaguchi rediscovered an earlier passion for creating emotional narratives. Production began in 2018 on Fantasian, an RPG inspired by Final Fantasy VI and developed for the Apple Arcade service. A notable element was the use of real-life scanned into the game and used for its environments. An enhanced version, Fantasian: Neo Dimension, was released for consoles and PC by Square Enix in December 2024, making it the first collaboration between Sakaguchi and Square Enix in 21 years.
| + List of video games developed by Mistwalker ! Year ! Title ! Platform ! Co-developer | |||
| 2006 | Blue Dragon | Xbox 360 | Artoon |
| 2007 | Nintendo DS | Racjin | |
| Lost Odyssey | Xbox 360 | feelplus | |
| 2008 | Blue Dragon Plus | Nintendo DS | feelplus, Brownie Brown |
| Nintendo DS | Artoon | ||
| 2009 | Nintendo DS | tri-Crescendo | |
| 2011 | The Last Story | Wii | AQ Interactive |
| 2012 | Party Wave | Android, iOS | |
| Blade Guardian | iOS | ||
| 2014 | Terra Battle | Android, iOS | |
| 2017 | Terra Battle 2 | Android, iOS | Silicon Studio |
| 2019 | Terra Wars | Android, iOS | Arzest |
| 2021 | Fantasian | iOS, macOS, tvOS, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Windows |
A notable team member at Mistwalker from 2009 onwards was artist Kimihiko Fujisaka, known for his work on the Drakengard series. In later years, a second artist called Takatoshi Goto would contribute to titles, being described as Fujisaka's protegee. Another recurring artist is Manabu Kusunoki, known for his work on the Panzer Dragoon series. Under Artoon and later Arzest, Kusunoki contributed concept art and in-game illustrations to multiple projects. A recurring musical collaborator is composer Nobuo Uematsu, who also worked on the Final Fantasy series.
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