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Yoichi Wada Talks 2003-2004

A recent issue of Famitsu, one of Japan's leading entertainment publications, contained an interview with Square Enix president Yoichi Wada, in which the leader of the RPG world spoke about his company's short-term future. Wada expressed doubts that Square Enix would be announcing new titles in the immediate short-term; rather, he expects the coming months to be devoted to localization and debugging of titles still outstanding from before the merger. Additionally, fans of online gaming will be pleased to hear that tools are being worked on that will facilitate better PlayOnline integration with the company's games.

Wada was also asked about original content from the company, and while he stated that "There was actually an idea for a project which came up after discussions on both sides, and there's already a project proposal written for it" he later nixed the idea because it was "a little bit too early." Fans should take heart, however; Wada was "reminded [again] of how talented and flexible the developers in Square Enix are... There's nothing in particular that's goin in development right now, but if everything goes well, there should be an original title coming out in the next fiscal year."

Adding weight to this particular assertion is the fact the company recently put out a hiring notice for programmers, seeking those qualified in the making of a strategy RPG. Whether this is the project is anybody's guess; Wada also remarked that "Both companies are now working under the same roof, so they'll naturally be interaction with each other more often. I'm sure that there will be more project proposals popping up," so it seems conceivable that this could be one such project.

Either way, Wada indicated the company is already functioning as a single entity. When asked who Square Enix saw as being its new rival, he replied, "From now into the future, I think our rival is entertainment outside of video games. There's currently a dispute on how to tie entertainment like anime, Web, and movies together, but we will have to contend with all those kinds of media from now on. The fight will be even more severe than before, but I am sure that the developers in Square Enix will beat the competition."


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by Andrew Long    
Sources: [Gamespot]


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