Square Enix veteran Shinji Hashimoto announced his retirement from the company after his 27 year long tenure.

“Thank you all for your hard work. Today, Tuesday, May 31, I will be retiring. I would like to thank everyone in various fields for their support during my tenure. From now on, I would like to support you all as a Square Enix fan. Thank you very much.”

Hashimoto was hired at Squaresoft back in 1995 after his previous stint at then-toy company Bandai, and his first role was a producer on the original Front Mission for the Super Famicom. Shinji Hashimoto was famously the brand manager for the Final Fantasy series for over a decade, and was executive producer on the Kindom Hearts series.

Hashimoto was also infamously known online for his E3 2013 press conference where – while not announcing anything concrete – he told fans to “please be excited.”

Square Enix character designer Toshiyuki Itahana drew up some artwork to celebrate Hashimoto’s tenure at the company:

橋本さん、おつかれさまでした！@shinjihashimot3 pic.twitter.com/eSX8vLoKks

— 板鼻利幸Toshiyuki Itahana (@ItahanaT) May 31, 2022