Yosuke Matsuda, the representative director and president of Square Enix Holdings, will be succeeded by Takashi Kiryu, the company’s current director. This change in leadership will be finalized pending the approval of the 34th Annual Shareholders’ Meeting and the Board of Directors Meeting.
In the words of the company, the key reason for this change 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 [Square Enix Holdings Co. Ltd.]’s group in order to deliver even greater entertainment to its customers around the world.”
Square Enix Holdings
Yosuke Matsuda has remained president of Square Enix since April 2013 and the president of Square Enix Holdings since June 2013, replacing Yoichi Wada, the former president, who was in charge from December 2000 to May 2013.
There are more reasons for this change than a long tenure. For one, it could be that Square Enix is looking to replace Matsuda because he has been one of the strongest supporters behind NFT-based interactive experiences, which has been met with significant backlash from the gaming community as a whole, let alone people who enjoy JRPGs.
To better understand, it may help to observe the work history and portfolio of Takashi Kiryu. The new CEO of Square Enix, having only been with the company for several years, used to work as the General Manager of Dentsu Innovation Initiative, a business group that explored new and exciting opportunities like the Metaverse.
It seems as though the company believes this younger executive will take the organization’s ventures in a direction that will equally benefit itself and its loyal following of gamers.