http://www.siliconera.com/2015/06/1...yoichi-wada-is-no-longer-part-of-the-company/
What are your thoughts about this ?
What are your thoughts about this ?
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Crystal Power
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It blows my mind that Square Enix has a subsidiary named Shinra Technologies. I'm loving them so much more now.
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buddhafied and LeonBlade
Well, he has a rather tainted reputation. And I am surely not fond of him myself.
But I'm sure he did some right things if Square Enix survived through that tough time. But I would lie if I said I was not excited to see him step down. ^^;;
But I'm sure he did some right things if Square Enix survived through that tough time. But I would lie if I said I was not excited to see him step down. ^^;;
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buddhafied
I don't feel bad.
When Suzuki and Sakaguchi were in charge, they wanted to create new IPs and not just milk Final Fantasy to death and they delivered on that promise. That variety and consistency of great titles we were getting is a big reason why people want a return to the Square Soft days.
Unfortunately Spirits Within just had to happen. That increased Wada's role and the board lost all faith in both Suzuki and Sakaguchi.
So why the Wada hate? The hate comes from him basically killing what Suzuki and Sakaguchi did. Wada implemented a business strategy he called "polymorphic content", which was basically about taking a single concept and make as much money as they can off of it across various platforms. It's why Final Fantasy is being milked to death. It's why the FNC and FFVII compilation happened. He basically destroyed what people liked about Square Soft in the 90's.
As a fan, I'm glad he's gone. Nothing more frustrating then these decision makers ignoring what their fan base wants. It's just a shame we had to put up with him for a decade. A lot of time was wasted.
When Suzuki and Sakaguchi were in charge, they wanted to create new IPs and not just milk Final Fantasy to death and they delivered on that promise. That variety and consistency of great titles we were getting is a big reason why people want a return to the Square Soft days.
Unfortunately Spirits Within just had to happen. That increased Wada's role and the board lost all faith in both Suzuki and Sakaguchi.
So why the Wada hate? The hate comes from him basically killing what Suzuki and Sakaguchi did. Wada implemented a business strategy he called "polymorphic content", which was basically about taking a single concept and make as much money as they can off of it across various platforms. It's why Final Fantasy is being milked to death. It's why the FNC and FFVII compilation happened. He basically destroyed what people liked about Square Soft in the 90's.
As a fan, I'm glad he's gone. Nothing more frustrating then these decision makers ignoring what their fan base wants. It's just a shame we had to put up with him for a decade. A lot of time was wasted.
While i can agree that concentrating in FF only not producing too much new IPs is something you could blame to Wada.
Though i also argue that it didn´t help that in the Square Soft days, IPs not named FF weren´t selling as much as FFgames, with some exceptions like Crono, Xenogears, Mana but even then they either sold(AKA fans supporting this IPs) or shipped 1-2.5 millon units between their formal release until the merge with Enix in comparison to FF[insert number] that could sell the same and surpass it in the same year they were released.
So i don´t agree too much with the "these decision makers ignoring what their fan base wants" feeling, when fanbase (or even Square Soft itself) didn´t support to much the nonFF IPs in the first place, in the end they were giving the fan base what the "wanted".
Though i also argue that it didn´t help that in the Square Soft days, IPs not named FF weren´t selling as much as FFgames, with some exceptions like Crono, Xenogears, Mana but even then they either sold(AKA fans supporting this IPs) or shipped 1-2.5 millon units between their formal release until the merge with Enix in comparison to FF[insert number] that could sell the same and surpass it in the same year they were released.
So i don´t agree too much with the "these decision makers ignoring what their fan base wants" feeling, when fanbase (or even Square Soft itself) didn´t support to much the nonFF IPs in the first place, in the end they were giving the fan base what the "wanted".
I'm just telling you why fans hate him. It boils down to him killing off the consistency and variety of IPs we were getting back in the 90's.
If you want to talk business, those games did just fine back then. Fans did support them in the first place. You didn't have to sell 5 million copies of a game back then in order for it to be a success. Back then, selling a million copies was considered a success. Today, it's considered a failure.
The problem comes down to the demand for bigger and better production values. Everyone's standards and expectations have increased and continue to increase.
In order to deliver that, development budgets have to increase. When you do that, you have to sell more copies of the game in order to break even and start making a profit.
The fans who supported those games could all return for a future installment, but that's not going to be enough. What Chrono Trigger did back in the day is not acceptable today if they decided to make a sequel with AAA production values.
Basically, the market has changed. Instead of seeing variety and creative risks, you're seeing over used but proven ideas and safe bets. Final Fantasy is a proven IP that can stand side by side with the fierce competition today.
If you want to talk business, those games did just fine back then. Fans did support them in the first place. You didn't have to sell 5 million copies of a game back then in order for it to be a success. Back then, selling a million copies was considered a success. Today, it's considered a failure.
The problem comes down to the demand for bigger and better production values. Everyone's standards and expectations have increased and continue to increase.
In order to deliver that, development budgets have to increase. When you do that, you have to sell more copies of the game in order to break even and start making a profit.
The fans who supported those games could all return for a future installment, but that's not going to be enough. What Chrono Trigger did back in the day is not acceptable today if they decided to make a sequel with AAA production values.
Basically, the market has changed. Instead of seeing variety and creative risks, you're seeing over used but proven ideas and safe bets. Final Fantasy is a proven IP that can stand side by side with the fierce competition today.
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Suzuki and Sakaguchi weren't allies; it was Suzuki who first capitalized on the CG movie mess to push the latter off the board (citing that Sakaguchi and ex-president Tomoyuki Takechi had forced everyone to go this route and that he had been powerless to stop it. As acceptance for that failure, he reduced his own salary). His vision for the future was the PlayOnline platform, which Wada more or less killed in favor of packaged offline software. Note that his opinion is that Square Enix should have abandoned HD game development, which is a huge burden for the company.
Furthermore, they all fell into the trap of milking Final Fantasy once the financial situation caught up. Remember the "year of Final Fantasy" that Suzuki touted, with the CG movie, anime series, three sequels, and a series of ports/remakes to be released in succession? Even Wada stressed varied IPs early on in his tenure, even if he thought in terms of mixed-media compilations instead of single releases.
Generally, Square management has been troublesome since at least the mid-90s, with everyone making a series of mistakes. As far as I can tell, it was only Alpha Dream's Tetsuo Mizuno (who led Square through the SFC generation and into the PlayStation era. That part about canceling Chrono Trigger 2 was a direct allusion to Sakaguchi's disagreements with Mizuno) who was committed to the vision of Square that we love. Even now, his company does the same thing, making little RPGs while rearing younger staff.
Furthermore, they all fell into the trap of milking Final Fantasy once the financial situation caught up. Remember the "year of Final Fantasy" that Suzuki touted, with the CG movie, anime series, three sequels, and a series of ports/remakes to be released in succession? Even Wada stressed varied IPs early on in his tenure, even if he thought in terms of mixed-media compilations instead of single releases.
Generally, Square management has been troublesome since at least the mid-90s, with everyone making a series of mistakes. As far as I can tell, it was only Alpha Dream's Tetsuo Mizuno (who led Square through the SFC generation and into the PlayStation era. That part about canceling Chrono Trigger 2 was a direct allusion to Sakaguchi's disagreements with Mizuno) who was committed to the vision of Square that we love. Even now, his company does the same thing, making little RPGs while rearing younger staff.
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