Just when you thought the “troubles” that the gaming industry went through would be the “worst part” of May news-wise, Square Enix comes along to prove that you should never assume what will happen next. Earlier today, it was reported that the 3rd party company would do a bit of a “reboot” within themselves. Specifically, after having a record-setting loss due to certain titles underperforming within the last fiscal year, they’re trying to “restructure” themselves so that they can make more quality games and make better profit as a result. In theory, that’s not a bad thing. However, as you might have guessed, it will cost people their jobs.
This reveal came via an internal meeting that VGC got info about. In the meeting, Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu stated to those in attendance that as part of its “restructuring,” the US and Europe branches of the company would be hit with layoffs. Just as important, those layoffs will be announced during the next month or so.
VGC further noted that the divisions that will be hit the hardest were those in IT, the publishing branch, and the “Collective” department, which was where they made indie games.
On the whole, Square Enix might be in for a rough ride over the next year or so. After all, a restructuring of this nature doesn’t just “turn things around.” Just as important, one of its most recent “failures” was one of the most hyped games in the entire industry. So when you look at that and then think about all the other games that were a “swing and a miss,” you have to wonder if the company can pull off a full turnaround.
One of the big ideas they presented to the public today was going for “quality over quantity,” which an interesting statement given some of the titles they’ve released in the last few years that definitely weren’t quality and yet they got big support from the company. Then, when the publisher did release a title that was quality, they sometimes didn’t promote it that well.
Once again, this is an example of a company thinking they could ‘go in every direction and reap the rewards’, and then other people, mainly the employees who made the games, are the ones who pay the price. Arguably, the worst part about this news is that we’ll likely hear other companies making these kinds of “restructures” in the future, which means even more layoffs are coming.
