Despite the recent releases of Tomb Raider and Hitman: Absolution, Square Enix President Yoichi Wada stepped down from his position, stemming off of the company’s recent financial losses.
Wada has been president of Square Enix since December 2000 and has overseen large series projects such as Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy XIII.
The news of his departure as the head of the company comes in from IGN.com, who reports that Square Enix’s economical losses have jumped from the estimated ¥3.5 billion, to ¥13 billion.
The sales for games such as the Tomb Raider reboot and Sleeping Dogs still sold strong, but not strong enough to keep the company’s president from warily jumping out. It should be noted that the online distribution sales for the recent games Square Enix has released haven’t been yet accounted for. However, those sales still wouldn’t help the gaming publisher get out of the financial hole it’s dug itself into.
As to where this will leave the Japanese Role Playing Game company, it is still hard to tell. Our thoughts are that they will begin to work on smaller scale projects, to further decrease their risk of loss, and therefore their gargantuan debt.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem as though things are looking up for Square Enix.
The gaming company released a statment that says they, “expect to incur extraordinary loss in the settlement of the accounts for its fiscal year ending March 31, 2013.” At that, it is most likely Square Enix’s hope that games such as Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII, Final Fantasy X, X-2 HD, and Kingdom Hearts 1.5 HD ReMIX will see them out of their horrific debt.
What do you think would get Square Enix out of its rut? Where do you see the company going forward from these major losses? Can a company as large and powerful as Square Enix even pick themselves back up again to rebuild their gaming empire?
Featured image source: Square Enix
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