Square Enix recently spoke with Ayako Yokoyama, Co-Director of the upcoming FINAL FANTASY TACTICS – The Ivalice Chronicles, about her career path and current role on the highly anticipated tactical RPG remaster.

Yokoyama’s path to game development wasn’t traditional. Despite being inspired by FINAL FANTASY VII as a student, she initially found the games industry difficult to enter and started her career at an internet services company. She joined Square Enix to manage the PlayOnline service website before transitioning into game development.

Her first game project came when Square Enix expanded into mobile games. Due to her web development background, she was recruited to help with scripting for BEFORE CRISIS – FINAL FANTASY VII, a mobile game that launched exclusively in Japan in 2004.

Over her career at Square Enix, Yokoyama has worked on several major franchises including mobile titles in the Mana series, over 10 years on DRAGON QUEST IX and X, and served as Lead Game Designer on FINAL FANTASY XVI. She cited DRAGON QUEST BUILDERS 2 as her favorite project, where she worked on event scenes and NPC dialogue.

As Co-Director on FINAL FANTASY TACTICS – The Ivalice Chronicles, Yokoyama serves as a bridge between Director Kazutoyo Maehiro and the development team. Her responsibilities include translating the director’s vision into actionable tasks, managing schedules, ensuring milestones are met, and handling day-to-day decision-making.

FINAL FANTASY TACTICS – The Ivalice Chronicles will feature updated visuals for HD displays, a new user interface, script updates including new character conversations by original director Yasumi Matsuno, and quality-of-life improvements such as auto-save and difficulty settings. The game is available for preorder on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, and Steam, with preorder bonuses included for early buyers.