EA CEO John Riccitiello is stepping down

[pakopako]

Well, EA has gotten rid of the tapeworm. Now time to bloat.

(I really like the "bungling" EA. An efficient conglomerate with that many subsidiaries may result in sequel-itis.)

[Ack]

Yoichi Wada, president of Square Enix, has resigned following the company's updated economic forecast that reveals a predicted loss of over 10 billion yen. The company has also announced a restructuring, though they have not unveiled any specifics as of yet.

http://www.hd.square-enix.com/130326.pdf

[01toubib]

They're dropping like flies...

[FerretGamer]

Yoichi Wada, president of Square Enix, has resigned following the company's updated economic forecast that reveals a predicted loss of over 10 billion yen. The company has also announced a restructuring, though they have not unveiled any specifics as of yet.

http://www.hd.square-enix.com/130326.pdf

There is a lot of discussion going on about this. I mean it's a little silly when games like Tomb Raider or Hitman are expected to sell 3.5 million copies and that is considered underwhelming. I think many of the long-time game companies are faced with budget costs that are out of control and they all have unrealistic expectations. They are all trying to attain a Call of Duty level of sales and that is just not realistic. I think the next-gen will be very interesting for a lot of companies as they restructure and figure out what they need to do to thrive in this new gaming landscape.

[Hatta]

They are all trying to attain a Call of Duty level of sales and that is just not realistic.

That's the sickness of modern capitalism. It's not enough to break even and pay your employees. If you're not growing, quarter after quarter, you're a failure. All of these companies have the same problem, they put stockholders before customers.

[Xeogred]

Got too big, heh.

Anyways Yoichi Wada, was supposedly around from 2000 to now. Frankly good riddance, if anyone can point out some good SE developed releases and IP's within the last decade then feel free...

I guess FFX was 2001, but still under the Square Soft name. It's hilarious when the remake is probably the most excited I've been over a Square game since the 90's, and it's hardly my favorite FF.

[Ack]

Got too big, heh.

Anyways Yoichi Wada, was supposedly around from 2000 to now. Frankly good riddance, if anyone can point out some good SE developed releases and IP's within the last decade then feel free...

I guess FFX was 2001, but still under the Square Soft name. It's hilarious when the remake is probably the most excited I've been over a Square game since the 90's, and it's hardly my favorite FF.

I'd argue that their acquiring Eidos and enabling the production of games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Tom Raider, and hopefully Thief 4 should be considered a feather in Square's cap from the last decade. Without them, these franchises might well have died or been totally forgotten.

[Xeogred]

That's why I said "good SE developed releases and IP's", heh. They've become a good publisher no doubt, I've been really enjoying most of the games they're attached to there. Eidos, Crystal Dynamics, etc, are top notch devs. But they themselves have completely lost touch with the fans and market, refusing to cater to anyone but their own selves, and constantly throwing out these insane prices (FFV iOS just released in New Zealand and is supposedly like ~$16US), etc. But also looking over the articles again I have to fully agree with some comments that it's pretty much ridiculous and in poor taste they seem to be again instantly putting blame on Eidos' stuff and other developers for failing to reach these outlandish expectations, while contiually being hush hush and refusing to acknowledge their own colossal failures this gen.

FFXIV probably sank a titanic sized gold brick, nobody ever wanted FFXIII to become three games, and they need to shut up and stop talking about games they're supposedly working on if they're not going to release until 10 years later, if they even do. If there's anyone to blame it's themselves. Hopefully this re-organization is a sign of that acknowledgement, but yeah since they've just pooped on my face over the last 13 years, it'll take a LOT for me to care about them again. I'd be completely content and happy if they flat out stopped developing games entirely at this point and just published stuff for Eidos, etc. All they did this entire gen was utterly ruin the Final Fantasy name and took it to such extremes it's near disrespectful to everyone involved in Square Soft originally who created all these great games and IP's, all they did was ride on names.

Hopefully they fire Tetsuya Nomura while they're at it.

Saw one comment though that mentioned Hiroyuki Ito, reading about this guy gives me a tiny bit of faith back. If there's someone who should head some new projects for internal SE developed stuff, it should definitely be this guy looking at that insane resume.

Hiroyuki Ito is also famous for being the director and game designer of Final Fantasy VI (1994), Final Fantasy IX (2000) and Final Fantasy XII (2006). He is also famous for being the game designer of Final Fantasy V (1992), Chrono Trigger (1995) and Final Fantasy Tactics (1997).

[01toubib]

A lot of these companies have really hit a nerve with gamers... and then they wonder why they aren't doing well.

I'm going to put my name into the pool of applicants for the new opening at CEO at EA. I know I could do a better job.

[elmagicochrisg]

John Riccitiello: "I fucked up. I quit."

EA: "Here's $1.8 million"