Hironobu Sakaguchi (坂口 博信, born 1962) was the Director of Planning and Development for Square, Co. Ltd. in 1986. He is the creator of the Final Fantasy and Chrono series. In 1991 he was honored with the position of Executive Vice President followed shortly thereafter by an appointment of President of the now Square USA, Inc.
Sakaguchi has had a long and lustrous career in gaming with over 60 million units of interactive games sold worldwide. Sakaguchi took the leap from games to film when he took the directorial role in Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, an animated motion picture based on his world-famous Final Fantasy game series. However, the film was not commercially successful, due to public apathy by the media. It led Squaresoft to a net loss, recording red ink on the company's 2001 income statement.
As a game designer, Sakaguchi has set standards of creativity that continue to be both influential in the way games are created and played. A long time proponent of bringing together the story telling vehicle of film and the interactive elements of games, Sakaguchi continues to move the industry by creating imaginative and beautiful stories through both media. The Final Fantasy series have sold more than 40 million units worldwide and continue to be a popular franchise.