View source for Akihiko Matsui

[[File:Akihiko Matsui.png|thumb|Akihiko Matsui in 2021]]
'''Akihiko Matsui''' joined Squaresoft as a debugger on '''Final Fantasy III''' in 1990. He continued working on new entries in the FF series and eventually joined '''Chrono Trigger''' midway through development in a Director role, overseeing monster behavior in battles.

He joined the Final Fantasy XI development team in 2000, where he was in charge of the battle system. In September 2010, he became the Director but was replaced by [[Mizuki Ito]] when Matsui was assigned to help the [[Final Fantasy XIV]] team following their unsuccessful initial launch. There, Matsui worked as the lead combat system designer.

When [[Hiromichi Tanaka]] left Square Enix in 2012, he named Matsui as his successor as Producer of FFXI. He has since lead the development team of the game.

From November 2013 onward, Matsui has been involved with the fairly regular Freshly Picked Japanese livestreams showcasing updates to the game. These broadcasts, which generally last over an hour, can be found on the [https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXZqtKfEmFb9cwY6BJqZ0xw Japanese Final Fantasy XI YouTube channel].

From May 2019 onward, Matsui has appeared in a monthly Final Fantasy XI Digest video along with Director Yoji Fujito. These are shorter 3-5 minute videos that summarize the main changes with a version update and are offered with official English subtitles. These can be found on the same channel.

From December 2020 to the May 2021 version update as well as the November 2022 to April 2023 Update, a limited time [[Trust]] Matsui-P was available to summon and play with in-game. 

Among his duties, Matsui is generally the person who creates the Volume 2 Ambuscades that are released.

On March 22nd, 2023, it was announced that [[Yoji Fujito]] would take over as Producer for [[Final Fantasy XI]], with [[Akihiko Matsui]] stepping down<ref>http://www.playonline.com/pcd/topics/ff11us/detail/20385/detail.html</ref>. 
==Related Links==
*[https://twitter.com/matsuiakihiko Personal Twitter] (Abandoned since October 2010)
[[Category:Square Enix Staff]]