Wada partially blames FFXIV, and “weak communication,” for Square’s financial loss

By Stephany Nunneley

After announcing its financials for its last fiscal year, Square Enix boss Yoichi Wada told investors that the firm’s internal revamping will probably take one to two years to accomplish.

Going over the company’s ¥12 billion ($148 million) loss, Wada said ¥4.5 billion of it stemmed from domestic development as well as the reworking of its Final Fantasy XIV MMO, and the cancellation of multiple titles.

“Our game development has become weaker than expected,” said Wada. “Revamping it will take one or two years.”

Wada also chalked some of the losses up to “weak communication,” as he claimed some of the publisher’s creative leads failed to pass along his opinion to their subordinates. He also said there was a bit of a problem with the delegation and division of labor amongst the tech staff, who only wanted to work on their own duties and were overly protective of their roles.

To help get the firm out of the red, Wada said Square is considering a new billing platform, and plans to focus more on social network and smartphone titles. Wada said he was not sure whether those who work in the packaged end of development could make the switch; therefore, the firm plans on using external developers for these new titles.

Square also plans to double its major brands to around 10, and the development of new IP will take around three to five years.

Thanks, Andriasang.

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