Former CEO still overseeing certain things at Square Enix Tokyo
Former Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada stepped down earlier this year in light of “extraordinary” financial losses, which the company has chalked up to “slow sales of major console game titles in North American and European markets,” as well as a “sluggish performance” in the arcade sector. According to Joystiq, Wada appeared, designated “Chairman,” on company forms last week.
“Yoichi Wada has left the management of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd and no longer has any role in the parent company,” the statement to Joystiq reads. “Currently, he is overseeing a portion of the business within Square Enix Co., Ltd (Square Enix Tokyo), one of the subsidiaries of the parent company. These businesses include emerging markets as well as social and mobile businesses.”
I guess it makes sense to leave the man who must have okayed the insulting Final Fantasy All the Bravest to oversee the social and mobile markets, right? The letter adds, “he has no authority in terms of the management of the Group.”
To me, Wada’s legacy will always be insisting Final Fantasy XII star younger leads because Vagrant Story didn’t sell well, awkwardly shoehorning Vaan into a Pyrrhic leading role, and marring an otherwise excellent game. Of course, there’s also All the Bravest and, after the Eidos acquisition, declaring Tomb Raider, Hitman: Absolution and Sleeping Dogs fiscal failures despite almost 10 million combined sales between the three.
