10 years after taking on the challenge of leading one of the world’s premier video game companies, Yosuke Matsuda will step down as CEO of Square Enix later this year. Matsuda will be replaced by a relative newcomer in June, after approval by shareholders.
Final Fantasy 15 is easily the most divisive installment in the award-winning JRPG series.
The company confirmed Matsuda’s departure to open weekend, explaining the reasoning behind the move by saying:
During the rapidly changing business environment surrounding the entertainment industry, the proposed change is intended to reshape the management team with the aim of adopting ever-evolving technological innovations and maximizing the creativity of the company’s group to deliver even better entertainment to its customers. around the Earth.
Square Enix is not in the best place financially and in the eyes of the public. Final Fantasy 16 remains one of the most hyped current-gen games, while fans look forward to Final Fantasy VII Rebirth coming in Winter 2023. Unfortunately, we’ve seen the once-famous studio come out with several misses to make up for the occasional hits in recent years. This is reflected in the declining share price of the company, which resulted in last year’s fire sale of its western subsidiaries to the Embracer Group.
At this point, Square Enix is as synonymous with its iconic franchises as Final Fantasy as commercial duds like Forspoken, BALAN Wonderworld and Babylon’s Fall.
All the while, outgoing CEO Matsuda expressed his support for crypto games every chance he could. He argued that NFTs and blockchain-based digital assets are at the forefront of the gaming industry even after the likes of Blizzard Entertainment, Microsoft and Valve have said they have explicitly avoided it.
The irony of the grand vision of the soon-to-be former CEO of Square Enix was not lost on fans. Remember, anti-eco-terrorism is literally the main point of one of the company’s biggest games, Final Fantasy VII.
The good news is that Matsuda’s replacement is the complete opposite. Kiryu’s background and Square’s announcement all suggest they understand they need a new perspective if they want to survive an industry that has become synonymous with billion-dollar acquisitions. Kiryu, who is only 48 years old, did not join Square Enix until 2020. Prior to this, Kiryu was not a household name in the gaming industry, unlike Matusada who had worked in various leadership roles within Square Enix before succeeding Yoichi Wada in 2013 .
Fingers crossed, incoming Square Enix president Kiryu will appear as a boss fight in a future Square Enix game, much like what happened with Matsuda in Final Fantasy XV and NieR: Automata.
