Mizuguchi moves away from game production

UPDATE:Q Entertainment would like to clarify its comments from the interview. "Mizuguchi was dedicated to the game development direction for Child of Eden," they said, "but now he does not do very much." Q also pointed out that after the release of Lumines 2 in 2007 Mizuguchi took on a similar role, focusing on his band Genki Rockets above games production.

Tetsuya Mizuguchi has stepped away from games production for the time being, taking on a more delegatory role within Q Entertainment.

"Right now Mizuguchi does not produce the games," Q Entertainment director Nobuhiko Shimizu told Eurogamer in Tokyo today. Since completing work on 2011's Child of Eden Mizuguchi has become involved in academic work, though he remains at the company he co-founded. "He's now more of a spokesperson," Shimizu continued. "He's not developing stuff right now."

Q Entertainment's last game, Lumines Electronic Symphony for the PlayStation Vita, saw James Mielke step up into the producer's role. Mielke has since left Q Entertainment for Kyoto-based Q Games. Which isn't at all confusing, and likely all he had to do was scribble out a certain bit of his business card.

Q Entertainment is itself working on various new projects, and it's looking to capitalize on the popularity of card-battling games in Japan by blending in its own musical expertise in a genre hybrid. "We are now thinking about combining music games with card-battle games," Shimizu said. "We now have several productions to develop that kind of game."