Yoichi Wada (below), who has been with Square Enix since April 2000, will be stepping down as president and replaced by the company’s CFO, Yosuke Matsuda, come June. Square Enix made this announcement along with news that an “extraordinary loss” is expected for the current financial year.
As many analysts have been saying these years, the acquisition of Enix did not yield the results expected, as well as being the publisher of the famous franchise, Tomb Raider. Yoichi Wada’s departure will also see gradual changes to the management team as the reforms begin.
Below is the news article reported by CVG.com:
Square Enix said: “In view of the rapidly changing environment of the game businesses, the company has decided to implement major reforms and restructuring in its development policy, organizational structure, some business models, and others.
“The company expects that the representative directors will change. Such change is subject to a resolution by its 33rd annual general meeting of shareholders to be held in late June, 2013, and a resolution by its board of directors meeting to be held after the said meeting of shareholders.”
Square Enix has also significantly downwardly revised its earnings forecast for the current business year ending March 31, 2013, blaming “slow sales of major console game titles in North American and European markets”, “sluggish performance of its arcade machine business”, and an “extraordinary loss” of approximately ten billion yen (£70m / $106m) from its restructuring plans.
For the fiscal year, the company now expects to report a net loss of 13 billion yen (£91m / $138m), down from a 3.5 billion yen (£24m / $37m) profit previously forecast and the six billion yen (£42m / $64m) profit it made the previous business year. It also downwardly revised its annual revenue forecast from 150 billion yen to 145 billion yen (£1b / $1.5b).
