The breakup and reconciliation between Nintendo and Square (now Square Enix) around the turn of the millennium is the stuff of VG legends. In the latest Weekly Famitsu, a feature with Akitoshi Kawazu (SE executive; creator of SaGa series) provided another piece of the historic puzzle.
[Context] In 2001, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within bombed in the box office, losing Square ~¥140B. The precarious financial situation caused Enix to suspend the merger talk, and investors demanding them to “kowtow” (土下座) to Nintendo in order to repair the relationship.
Yoichi Wada, then COO (soon CEO), recounted that Nintendo approached a Square “core creator” to offer Hiroshi Yamiuchi’s personal investment fund. The creator told Wada, who suspected it being a test to see if he had his subordinates’ support. After some negotiations, Wada finally met Yamauchi on the top floor of Nintendo HQ; with his silver hair and purple suit, Yamauchi seemed a “final boss” to Wada’s eyes. Long story short, Square later set up a shell company to receive funding from Yamauchi, and resumed developing games for Nintendo platforms.
[New info] In the Famitsu feature, Kawazu confirmed that he was the creator summoned by Yamauchi: “I sit down with him and [Shinji Hatano], who had arranged the meeting, to eat bentos from Tankuma while we talked, or rather, while I listened to Yamauchi-san speak.” He added: “I haven’t been able to return the favor I owe to Yamauchi-san or Nintendo, so I hope I can do something, anything, before I die.”
P.S.: Tankuma is a Michelin-starred restaurant; sample photo of their bento box below.
Sources:
Weekly Famitsu, No. 1952, page 59
Wada’s blog on note.com
Japanese Wikipedia
[Originally posted on 2026-06-20 Pacific Time]
