Luminous Production is a subsidiary of Square Enix that was formed in 27 March, 2018 as an external company from the development team of Final Fantasy XV in one of the 12 Business Divisions that Square Enix had at the time before reorganization: Business Division 2. The aim of the company is to create new AAA video games for a global audience using the Luminous Engine.
History
Formation
Luminous Productions was originally assembled from employees working on Final Fantasy XV. While forming a new internal studio from existing ones is common worldwide, it is uncommon in Japan. Since the studio pulled in so many who were working on Final Fantasy XV, Luminous Productions helped with the game alongside their new project. So many were taken from the internal development division Business Division 2 that created Final Fantasy XV that Square Enix stated that it functionally "no longer exists".
Focus
Its initial goal was to work on video games and "other entertainment content", but later that year the studio was refocused on just making games, causing to report a thirty-three million dollar loss for the half-year ending on September 30, 2018. The new studio's leader and Final Fantasy XV director Hajime Tabata left Luminous Productions and Square Enix around the same time, and planned future content for Final Fantasy XV was also cancelled with developed resources shifted to the untitled AAA project, which would use the Luminous Engine. The name "Luminous" was an intentional reference to the Luminous Engine, which is being used by the team on a new untitled AAA title, later revealed as Project Athia. President of Square Enix Yosuke Matsuda clarified that the studio would be a "fusion of cutting-edge technology and art".
Research and development
In 2018, preparations were made to launch a new game, and active development began in 2019. In September 2019, the team released a video called Back Stage on their website to demonstrate the work they were doing with an advanced form of ray tracing they callpath tracing. Several projects are in production, including research and engine development. In terms of the number of projects, we have several production lines in motion, including engine development and R&D. Of the 130 employees, approximately 20 are not Japanese, and the studio uses an in-house translator so that the studio can operate globally. A focus of the studio technologically is to not have in-game development and 3D cinematic teams working separately, but making a game that is entirely created in a cinematic mode.
