I was browsing on amazon and came across this:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00ZO1 … _i=desktop

This is an Atlus game but Masashi Hamauzu is listed as the composer. Did he leave SE?

yeah. A long time ago I think. Most of the SE composers that we associate with the name are freelance now. I think the people still on the team officially are like ... Ryo Yamazaki and Masayoshi Soken, Tsuyoshi Sekito, some others.

I guess FFXIII-2 was a while ago... that was last thing I listened to that had his name on it.

Not actively playing the games kind of warps the concept of how much time has passed.

He's been freelance since late 2009.

What Chris said. When he did XIII-2 he was freelance. That might be a part of why his involvement was decreased on that one. Though I was glad to see him back in for LR.

(and can I just say this while we're on the topic? I actually like the XIII trilogy. The music, yes, obvi. But I actually liked the full plot arc, stupid and crazy as it all was.)