Final Fantasy music legend Nobuo Uematsu doesn’t think he’ll ever compose a whole game again

Legendary video game music composer Nobuo Uematsu has said he doesn’t think he’ll be able to compose an entire game’s soundtrack ever again.

Uematsu is most famous for composing the soundtracks for the first nine Final Fantasy games, and working on numerous subsequent entries.

Although Final Fantasy 7 Remake and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth contain soundtracks created by different composers, Uematsu still composed the main theme for both games.

Now, in a new interview with German publication Zeit Online ahead of a performance of his new orchestral show Merregnon: Heart of Ice, Uematsu said he thinks his days of composing full video game soundtracks are over.

Asked if he ever felt that one day nostalgia could take over and convince him to write an entire soundtrack for a game again as opposed to just a main theme, Uematsu replied that he didn’t see it happening.

“As far as Final Fantasy is concerned, I’m still involved by writing the main themes for the games,” he explained. “But I don’t think I’ll compose music for a whole game again.

“You would have to give it full throttle for two or three years. And I don’t think I have the physical and mental strength to do it anymore.

“I think I’d rather use the time I have left to work on other projects that I love. Such as compositions like Merregnon or my band Uematsu Nobuo conTIKI .”

Uematsu’s last full game soundtrack was Fantasian, the Apple Arcade exclusive RPG written and produced by his long-time creative partner and Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi.

In an interview in 2021 to promote the game, Sakaguchi said he felt that Fantasian could be Uematsu’s last soundtrack.

“Before we approached him to work on Fantasian, he was going through some health issues, and there were concerns if he was going to be able to compose everything or if was it even possible for him to work on this,” Sakaguchi said at the time.

The composer ultimately pulled through to compose Fantasian’s entire 60-piece orchestrated soundtrack, the director said, adding that it may prove to be an important milestone.

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“I think he kind of hinted that Fantasian is maybe the last game that he does from end to end in terms of scoring an entire soundtrack,” Sakaguchi also said at the time, adding that while Uematsu would likely continue to do individual compositions for games, Fantasian “might be his last record”.

“On a positive note, he poured his heart and soul into [Fantasian],” Sakaguchi said. “For me, when I heard it, it almost made me tear up a little bit, because it was a very big moment in both of our careers.”

An apparent Steam database entry for Fantasian was spotted back in August 2023, suggesting that the game’s Apple Arcade exclusivity may be coming to an end and a PC port may coming. As yet, however, nothing has been officially announced.