Over the weekend, Square Enix released the company’s financial results from fiscal year 2007, and the results aren’t good. The company sold a little over 2 million fewer units in 2007 than it did during 2006. That does not bode well for the company, and it helps explain the focus on alternate business models. According to a report at Kotaku, President Yoichi Wada is threatening his employees with layoffs if the company does not reverse its niche focus:
Apparently, there has been an internal shakedown going on. According to several company insiders, things are getting heated. Word has it that a fierce meeting was held over a month ago where the Square Enix honcho threatened to start axing employees if they didn’t (and we’re paraphrasing) “stop making games that only they wanted to play.” Wada is supposedly worried that the company’s games have become more and more insular, alienating itself from the mainstream.
The next installations of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest are still on the horizon, but they have been on the horizon for so long that people are starting to question whether they will see the light of day in this decade. If Wada really wants to change the company’s focus, he has to realize it will take time and development cycles before the output of the company is more mainstream. I imagine, then, that the axe is unlikely to drop in the near future. We’ll keep our ears open for any further developments.
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