INTERVIEW: YOICHI WADA, PHIL ROGERS, MIKE FISCHER, SQUARE ENIX
information.” That international transfer of knowledge is key to cracking the global games market.
TEAM AMERICA
One year after Square Enix incorporated Eidos, the firm looked to bolster its operations in America too by appointing Mike Fischer as CEO of US-based subsidiary, Square Enix Inc. Fischer, fluent in Japanese, breaks into conversation with Wada during our interview. “There are a lot of Western games that go on sale in Japan,” Fischer says. “But they only tend to be cases of republishing. The game is built, maybe localised and then shipped.” Fischer’s observations are drawn from two decades of industry experience, having worked in the US, the UK and Japan at publishers including Namco, Sega and Microsoft. The main lesson in building a global success, he says, is taking into consideration all markets early in the design phase of a game. “I think we have the opportunity here to have conversations much more upstream at the development level, to start thinking earlier in the process about the requirements for global success,” he adds. Wada concurs, and says the knowledge all three CEOs can share between each other can be
38 October 22nd 2010
inestimable: “Our business model is quite often misunderstood as hierarchical. It is not. “All of our groups are in a mixture, which from the outside may look a bit messy and complicated. We deliberately leave it this way because the industry is in a transitional phase – its foundations are shifting – and so we need to keep our business flexible. We need to keep close communications between each of us, otherwise we wouldn’t survive.” Rogers elaborates: “We want to share more information at a design level, and look at how games in the West can be tweaked to work better in Japan. We’ve been looking at certain franchises and seeing what features Western gamers would accept or like that also work well in Japan. “I think you’ll see more focus in the future from Square Enix’s games, and that was indeed one of the benefits of the Eidos acquisition – we can share more relevant information”.
AROUND THE WORLD Wada says the trio’s ambition is to be a top three publisher within five years, an achievement that might only be possible if Square Enix can respond quickly to an industry whip- lashed from online phenomena.
“The market itself is exploding,”
Wada says. “And geographically it is expanding. We have started seeing the unconventional gamers come into the scene, and so the potential market size is completely different from what we had before.” Fischer suggests Square Enix’s US division is preparing to break into these nascent online markets. “I look forward to using our US operation as a resource for driving more network-oriented gaming initiatives,” he says.
“With due respect to the
innovation that is happening all over the world in this area, the US West Coast has been home to an incredible amount of successful online gaming companies including Zynga, OnLive, Valve and Steam, PopCap Games, Sony Online and Blizzard just to name a few. “I want to take advantage of our location in the US to source the best ideas, talent and content that will make Square Enix as strong in the online world as we are with our traditional games.” “Yes,” Wada adds, “however, as far as social gaming is concerned, this isn’t necessarily our goal. “The business model of social gaming has presented something different from conventional gaming, but that business model isn’t our
A balanced portfolio of products –such as the Japanese Final Fantasy XIV (left) and US-made Lara Croft and The Guardian of Light (above) –has been key to Square Enix’s increased global stability
“
I want to take advantage of our location on the US West Coast to source the best ideas and content to make Square Enix as strong in online as it is in traditional games. Mike Fischer, Square Enix
www.mcvuk.com
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