In a memo released Friday morning, Square Enix outlined a proposal that would see current longtime president Yosuke Matsuda step down in favour of director Takashi Kiryu.
In a proverbial passing of the torch moment, the Square Enix Board of Directors has issued a proposal that current President Yosuke Matsuda will step down from his current role as President after ten years, and the Board has already selected a successor.
The Board’s reasoning is “Under the rapid change of business environment surrounding the entertainment industry, the proposed change is intended to reshape the management team with the goal of adopting ever-evolving technological innovations and maximizing on the creativity of the Company’s group in order to deliver even greater entertainment to its customers around the world,” as they’ve said in their initial statement.
If the proposal goes into effect, Yosuke Matsuda would step down, while fellow board member and Chief Strategy Officer and Board Director Takashi Kiryu would take his place. This news comes on the heels of the hasty dissolution of Luminous Productions, which is being absorbed back into Square Enix on May 1st.
While it has yet to be confirmed that this particular change will take place, Square Enix’s shareholders will be tasked with voting on the change sometime in June 2023, and while there is a chance that a vote could derail the planned change, all signs point in that direction given the recent commercial disappointments of Marvel’s Avengers and Forspoken.
Japanese news site 4Gamer highlighted a Q&A session Matsuda hosted following the proposal announcement, stating his retirement has been coming, and he plans to oversee Square Enix as a fan moving forward. 4Gamer reports (thanks to Google Translate) “He said that he had been preparing for his resignation as president for some time, saying, “How should we change the company for the next growth? After thinking about this, we decided that we should change to a new system. We have come to a conclusion,” the conclusion being a passing of the torch on his 10th anniversary year as president.
The proposal memo states, “The change is to be officially finalized pending approval at the 43rd Annual Shareholders’ Meeting scheduled for June 2023 and the meeting of the Board of Directors to be held thereafter,” so fans will have to hold onto their hats until then. Stay tuned to CGMagazine for all future updates on this and other gaming related news.
