Yoichi Wada stepping down!

[Rostum]

Looks like Yoichi Wada is stepping down from Square Enix.

"Today, it was announced that Square Enix president Yoichi Wada is stepping down. He will no longer be serving as Square Enix's Representative Director. Yousuke Matsuda, who joined Square in 2001, will take over Wada's role in running the company.
The reason given for Wada's demotion was "a management reorganization". According to Japanese website 4Gamer, no word on what's next for Wada. This comes as Square Enix is forecasting an "extraordinary loss" in its next financial statement."

Square Enix's Yoichi Wada Is Stepping Down

[The Man]

And nothing of value was lost.

[Loony BoB]

This makes me sad if only because he was always supportive of Yoshida and hilarious on the live letters.

EDIT: Still, I hope this means we get less spinoffs/remakes and more original stuff.

[Del Murder]

This may be the shot in the arm SE needs. I didn't like the direction the company has been going under Wada.

[Spooniest]

This reminds me of a story...

Whoever gets the reins next is gonna be told "We are not made of money."

[Loony BoB]

This reminds me of a story...

Whoever gets the reins next is gonna be told "We are not made of money."

Considering Matsuda is the former chief financial officer not to mention a director, I'd say he will be the one dictating how much money they are made of.

[ShinGundam]

This is not very good for FF14 revival, luminous and Eidos.

The fact that he didn't wait for ARR release says something, I guess Versus being co-developed by Sony might be true afterall.

[Ouch!]

This is the best thing that could have happened to the company. I haven't been a huge fan of the direction that the company has taken under Wada since the merge, and while I don't believe it's fair to name Wada as the source of the rot (it's never just one bad egg), his resignation is a major turning point for the company regardless. Whoever ends up filling the top seats in this management reform is going to have a lot of pressure to take the company in a different direction, if only to put separation between themselves and Wada's legacy.

[Roogle]

This is not very good for FF14 revival, luminous and Eidos.

The fact that he didn't wait for ARR release says something, I guess Versus being co-developed by Sony might be true afterall.

How many rumors about Final Fantasy Versus XIII are there? I don't think I have seen a title with this many rumors swirling around its development. You would think that they would release more information or address them directly.

[Loony BoB]

I hear Versus is actually just a codename for a mission to colonise the moon, and this is in fact what SE are working with Sony on.

[Ouch!]

It has already been confirmed that Final Fantasy XIV will not be impacted by this at all, and why would it be? They've devoted so much already in the way of resources (both personnel and financial) toward Final Fantasy XIV's re-release, that they cannot afford to scale back without eating a huge financial hit.

As far as Eidos goes, given that their CEO is now the top pick to take over as Director, I think they're probably going to be fine (especially since that acquisition has been very profitable for the company).

[Loony BoB]

If there is a shining light in Wada's reign, it's probably the aquisition of Eidos. I doubt they'll change much there, and Wada always let SE Europe (Eidos' new name) run their own show.

[Ouch!]

This was an interesting article about some of what prompted this whole announcement. It's a bit worrisome that 3.4 million copies in one month was below expectations for Tomb Raider. It sounds to me like Square Enix has a problem managing development costs in relation to realistic sales expectations. The three games cited in that article all have solid scores, and the issue clearly isn't quality there.

I really do hope that the biggest change to come out of this whole mess is that they can look to the success that Yoshi-P has had with interacting with fans and the media during the development of ARR. The game has been getting a great deal of positive attention from the media lately where Square Enix has otherwise been a punchline more often than not. It's time for SE to stop hoarding its secrets and actually engage their customers and the media.

[Loony BoB]

The problem that I have with unrealistic sales projections is the fear that XIV:ARR might suffer from this, too. If they actually expect to get massive, massive numbers into ARR then I'm worried for the game's future. Fingers crossed they aren't going to be unreasonable about it.

[Roogle]

Unrealistic expectations make me wonder who is in charge of their financial planning. It is not wise to count on a massively multiplayer online role-playing game to automatically generate nearly as much revenue as World of Warcraft.