Neil Broadley

Neil Broadley was a British localisation director at Square Enix whose work shaped how English speaking players encountered the SaGa franchise and several Final Fantasy titles. He died on 6 November 2026 after a multi-year battle with stage 4 colon cancer. He was 45.

Broadley joined Square Enix in 2012 as an English translator on Final Fantasy Dimensions. He went on to work as lead translator on Final Fantasy XI Online: Ultimate Collection Seekers Edition and as an English translator on Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster. From the mid 2010s he became the public face of SaGa localisation overseas, contributing translation and localisation direction across Romancing SaGa 2, Romancing SaGa 3, SaGa Frontier Remastered, SaGa Emerald Beyond, Romancing SaGa 2 Revenge of the Seven, and SaGa Frontier 2 Remastered. At the time of his death he was working on a remaster of Romancing SaGa 3 planned for early the following year.

He spoke openly about localisation craft, arguing that good work should preserve as much of the Japanese text as possible and change wording only when it improved player experience. Square Enix featured him in its The Games That Made Us video series around SaGa Emerald Beyond, where he discussed the games that shaped him. Colleagues and fans remembered him as a tireless advocate who helped revive SaGa for new audiences through remasters, remakes, and new releases.

In a farewell statement prepared before his death and posted on 6 November 2026 via his account @SaGa_NeilB, Broadley described fighting cancer through repeated surgeries, three types of chemotherapy, and radiation while continuing to work on SaGa. He wrote that the work had given him purpose, that he had spent years preparing successors to carry the franchise forward, and that he was survived by his partner of 25 years, Shige, and their dachshund Noah. His partner later said more than 100 friends and colleagues gathered at a memorial Mass in Tokyo.

Broadley asked fans to be kind to others and to themselves, and wished them health, happiness, and long life. His localisation credits and the players he brought into SaGa remain his lasting mark on Japanese role playing games in English.