Square Enix president Yoichi Wada has resigned from his post in the wake of a restructuring that pushed the Japanese company into the red for the fiscal year. The publisher of the Tomb Raider and Final Fantasy series of games will be replaced by Yosuke Matsuda, who was previously a member of the company’s board.
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It seems that the slowdown in console game sales and failed transitions to digital games is a problem for big company CEOs. Last week, Electronic Arts fired CEO John Riccitiello because EA didn’t make as much progress on a variety of fronts as its board wanted to, and because Riccitiello also missed his quarterly financial targets. The same is true for Wada, regarding missed targets.
The publisher expects a loss from restructuring in the fiscal year ending March 31. Square Enix said it plans to implement “major reforms and restructuring in its development policy, organizational structure, some business models, and others.” The company expects a loss of 10 billion yen, or $105 million, from its restructuring charges. The extraordinary downturn includes a loss on disposal of content of $42 million and on evaluation of content of $42 million, as well as others totaling $21 million.