Yasumi Matsuno

Yasumi Matsuno (松野 泰己) (b. 1965) is a video game designer.

He is one of the only two designers to have two games receive a perfect score by Famitsu magazine, which has to date only given perfect scores to thirteen games in its twenty-year history. Matsuno's Vagrant Story and Final Fantasy XII were critically acclaimed by the magazine with a 40/40 score. Matsuno has been rated by the website Next Generation as the 13th most important and anticipated video game developers of 2007. In March 2006, the Japanese Famitsu magazine readers voted on their 100 all-time favorite games, and Matsuno's game Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together was named number seven.

Early projects
Matsuno began his career at the Japanese video game developer Quest, where he created the Ogre Battle series of tactical role-playing games.

Square and Square Enix
In 1995, Matsuno joined Square after quitting Quest. His colleagues at Square Enix usually called him by his nickname "YAZZ".

At Squaresoft, Matsuno oversaw the development of Final Fantasy Tactics for the PlayStation. Similar in design and gameplay to Tactics Ogre, it was lauded for its highly intricate and convoluted story.

After the release of Final Fantasy Tactics, Matsuno and his team began development on Vagrant Story. Smaller in scope than Final Fantasy Tactics, Vagrant Story was still highly regarded by critics and has gained somewhat of a cult following since its release.

Matsuno supervised Square's PlayOnline project prior to its first beta release in 2001. He then produced Final Fantasy Tactics Advance for the Game Boy Advance system, which shares the Final Fantasy Tactics system but has an entirely different storyline.

Final Fantasy XII was co-directed by Matsuno and Hiroyuki Ito, and written by Matsuno, though his official credits are listed as "Story and Concept". He had to bow out of the game's staff, ostensibly due to health issues. According to e-mail responses from the Square Enix Information Center, Matsuno left Square Enix on August 31, 2005, following his step-down from directing Final Fantasy XII but a developer implies he had no longer appeared in the front of the team by the end of 2004. On February 25, 2010, Matsuno spoke out on his departure from the Final Fantasy XII project on his Twitter page, although the message is in Japanese. Matsuno states that while he had been sick, he had nevertheless let down the Square Enix staff, shareholders, and fans who had been looking forward to the game.

Current
In 2006, Matsuno showed his interest for the Wii console in a promotional video. In 2007, Hitoshi Sakimoto revealed that he was working on an undisclosed project with Matsuno. In 2009, GameSpot revealed that Matsuno is one of MadWorld's story developers. He is revealed to have been working on a remake of Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together, titled Tactics Ogre: Wheel of Fortune in Japan, for the PlayStation Portable along with the game's original staff.

Credits

 * Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen: Director, scenario and game design
 * Tactics Ogre: Let Us Cling Together: Director, scenario and game design
 * Final Fantasy Tactics: Director, script and game design
 * Vagrant Story: Producer, director and battle design
 * Final Fantasy Tactics Advance: Producer, original concept
 * Final Fantasy XII: Original concept, scenario plotter, and supervisor
 * MadWorld: Story
 * Tactics Ogre: Wheel of Fortune: Game design, scenario