Very sad to see, I think he got scapegoated hard for FFXIV.

He's technically the true "Father of Final Fantasy," the one who, along with Koichi Ishii, came up with the world of swords and sorcery that Final Fantasy would inhibit, directed FFIII and IV, and went on to create the Mana franchise once the junior developers took over. He's the man who put the "Dream Team" of Square and Enix's best and brightest together for Chrono Trigger, and believed enough in the Monolith guys to give them another shot with Chrono Cross after their relative failure with Xenogears. He was the driving force for Final Fantasy XI and the reason why we got such awesome remakes with Final Fantasy III and IV on the DS.

He was probably the only executive more truly on the "production side" with any sense left at Square Enix, and now he's gone. Off to make "smaller" experiences, just like Keiji Inafune, Matsuo, and so many other giants. The idea of a "Big Video Game" is dead.

If you want AAA titles, you better get used to generic shooters and horrifically boring WRPGs.