Changes are coming in the Japanese company.
Square Enix may be currently focused on the next release of Final Fantasy XVI, the new numbered installment of the well-known franchise that is postulated as one of the great games of the year which will also give us hours and hours of scenes and cinematics from what has been known through Square Enix itself, but that does not mean that in the bowels of the Japanese company there are organizational changes.
And it is that, being quite direct, it has recently been announced that Yosuke Matsuda, the current president of Square Enix, will be replaced from his position within the Japanese company, this being an announcement that has been made today to the shareholders of the company and announcing in passing who will take his place, since Takashi Kiryu will be the new president in the absence of approval by the shareholders’ meeting to be held in June 2023.
Matsuda has been president since he replaced Yoichi Wada in 2013
It should be noted that Matsuda’s career throughout the time he has been in office (since 2013 after replacing Yoichi Wada) has been quite peculiar, since under his tenure we have been able to see how Square Enix has released several games almost simultaneously, but very few have achieved the expected commercial and critical results. In fact, the recent Forspoken has ended up hitting it quite a bit in these two areas after suffering two delays precisely to avoid it.
Likewise, Matsuda has also been in the crosshairs of fans of the brand, since in recent years he has insisted that Square Enix should focus on blockchain games, this being something that has been harshly criticized by fans, who in many cases have responded with the portfolio. Specifically keeping them closed.
That is why although this change could result in a bit of fresh air for the company, the truth is that everything seems to indicate that this will not be the case, since a statement from Square Enix states that the Japanese company is will focus on adapting to constantly evolving technological innovationswhile the proposed change in president is aimed at reshaping the management team and maximizing creativity.
The new president of Square Enix comes from the Dentsu Innovation Initiative, specialized in the search for new technologies
Symbiogenesis is the first Square Enix project entirely focused on NFTs
Under this same premise, it should be noted that the proposed president, Takashi Kiryu, is a 47-year-old Japanese man who joined Square Enix in June 2020 as general manager of the corporate planning division, so He has been in the company for a short time. Likewise, prior to joining Square Enix he was the CEO of the Dentsu Innovation Initiative, an R&D company focused on finding new and disruptive technologies, including blockchain and Web 3.0.
In other words, not flattering at all, about knowing that the company’s focus is on NFTs as they expressed in their New Year’s message and that it has gone further with the announcement of Symbiogenesis, a title focused on this technology. We will see how this turns out, especially now that this market is in decline.
Be that as it may, we will always have the titles that move away from this technology, being Final Fantasy XVI and its success the one that turned the tables inside the Square Enix offices, for which it will be very necessary for the already announced demo of the title to end up convincing the users. For the rest, remember that Final Fantasy XVI will be released in June for PS5being quite likely that it will later come to PC.