Yoichi Wada stepping down

[Blade]

Only thing I'm worried about at this point...

In this day and age, whenever such'n'such company employee gets "severed" there's bound to be some news backlash of some kind.

Be it old skeletons in the closet uncovered, or some other revelation of a scandal of some kind. Finger-pointing, etc.

Whatever Wada did to get the boot, here's hoping he can come back and learn from his mistakes (assuming they were made).

 

[laurence]

I'm more worried about the cuts in staff than this, tbh, though both issues may be related.
Didn't know much about Wada, but considering that, imo, the company wasn't doing it's best in recent years, I am being optimistic that this refreshment in presidency will partly resolve that lack of vigor...though I know perfectly well that it's much more than who is president.
That said, another part of me is inclining to believe the change won't matter much. Gosh...I'm just babbling here, I'm not exactly sure what to make of this. Time will tell. Until then I'm just keeping my thoughts on the positive side for now...

 

[Lex]

So this is very interesting.

Something was posted online from an alleged ex-employee of Square Enix (Japanese) that, if true, explains why he was let go along with why the company has been so shit for the past decade:

“I don’t know a company president who loves playing his own company’s games more than Wada,” the alleged former programmer stated.

Continuing, the writer went on to add that while Wada was not a game developer and certainly didn’t have a deep knowledge of game development, he would read game design documents and take part in development meetings. That doesn’t mean Wada was a perfect boss.

“If anything, Wada’s mistake, his weakness was that because he loved and cherished his developers so much that he put too much trust in them,” the post continued.

That’s why, the post continued, there were huge projects that needed to be ended or important people that needed to be let go, but weren’t.

The result, obviously, was that things began to go south. Square Enix is now notorious for big budget games with bloated development cycles that take too long — or never come out.

The post also wonders what will happen next: Since Wada isn’t around to protect the developers and their projects, this could mean a downsizing in development staff.

It may or may not be utter lies, but it does make a lot of sense. Honestly one of the massive problems with SE is that they never really pay attention to what the fans want or expect. The compilation is a perfect example of this - they try far too hard to be flashy and cool or innovative when all we really wanted from a VII sequel was the same bloody game with better graphics and a continuation of the story. I know that's not entirely in sync with what this guy apparently said, but "the developers having too much freedom" seems to make a lot of sense for both the reasons mentioned in the quote and the crappy titles and butchering of story we've been landed with for quite some time.

Anyway, Source.

 

[Jiro]

Perhaps losing Wada will bring about pretty substantial change then. I would be interested in seeing if any big names get cut as well. So far downsizing has been limited to places like the NA community and marketing divisions.

 

[Super Mario]

So folks, any good news from SE yet? Other than losing alot of hands that may potentially make a tide turner? I feel this is a safer route to downsize rather than spend on big budget games that may flop (gambling) until they know they're in higher ground to develop said games.

 

[The Twilight Mexican]

Isn't playing it safe part of what got them here, though? They haven't attempted anything big or innovative in a while.

 

[Makoeyes987]

My God, it's so sad.

They've literally been sapped of all their creativity and innovation. It's not just a matter of laziness or stupidity.

They literally have lost it. I mean, they get spurts here and there with some of their handheld games and sequels but they are completely bankrupt in terms of...just doing something NEW. They've burned out. Fucking unbelievable.

 

[Strangelove]

that guy's portrait of wada was interesting. i never really considered him being much more than 'guy who says dumb things', rather than maybe someone who liked the staff too much and didn't put his foot down

 

[Makoeyes987]

Square is clearly the perfect example of the consequence of combining Japanese Salaryman employment with the rigors and demand of video game development and innovation.

The whole entire paradigm of life time business employment and collective harmony is anathema to the dynamic and demanding job of churning out an innovative game title on strict time tables to turn a profit. It sucks to have to go hardcore capitalist, but game design and development requires challenges, strict deadlines, and clear consequences for those who fail to meet up to the expectation of the company. There has to be incentive to go above and beyond, not just in terms of rewards, but risk as well.

No one at Square, especially Wada, has had the chops to challenge the developers or staff in terms of game design, production or even hold them accountable in terms of time tables, structuring, or utilizing the latest hardware in the most efficient way possible. There's been no consequences for lazy development, game delays, or lack of vision. Everyone just felt free to do what they want, and be comfortable. Because they believe it's better to stay harmonized as a team and not make waves, instead of risk pissing people off, or firing long time, popular employees. Wada is just one of many bosses who have sadly been sent to pasture for exemplifying the Eastern Culture values that have shaped Japanese business for decades.

And when that becomes the business model, eventually everyone just settles and stays doing what they know how to do. Nothing changes. It stagnates.