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Breaking News: Yoichi Wada resigns as Square Enix CEO, likely being replaced by CFO

Eusis

Member
Good one.
I managed to enjoy FFXIII-2 a decent amount (hell, even FFXIII), and outside of the context of being an FF it actually sounds interesting and possibly quite good. Just not what I really want out of an FF, and likely a completely batshit story in a stupid way FF or not.
Will sell worse than FF XIII and probably XIII-2, i can guarantee them that much.
When there were the NPD sales freely shared on this one site late last gen I noticed most sequels to games that weren't megahits slowly declined with each sequel. So, yeah, it'd probably do worse just by default, the question is by how much. And I do imagine it'll be a normal decline.
 
People are so lost when it comes to Iwata and the great things he brought to Nintendo. Iwata became CEO in May 2002

1. Was CEO for Nintendos highest selling home console of all time (Wii).
Lightning in a bottle as shown by the WiiU. It was a momentary high, now stocks are reaching gamecube level.
2. Was CEO for the highest selling hardware in video game history (DS) which recently beat the ps2.
The DS has not outsold the PS2 iirc. Where are you getting these numbers. Can you please provide a link. Thank you. DS was an unimaginable success but he was not able to replicate that with 3DS.

3. The 3DS is currently outselling every other piece of hardware on a bi-weekly basis internationally.

It may be but its not meeting Nintendo's expectations.

The bias people have against a Nintendo CEO is amazing.

On-topic: Amazing news today, time for Square to make a come back.

I agree amazing news :)
 

wsippel

Banned
Their main problems are bad hardwrare/concept in combination with bad online/OS and no games. All of this lies years in the past and is on Nintendo alone.
The hardware was launched too early and in a time when Nintendo was restructuring their development teams. They had to launch early because the predecessors faltered. Their internal teams weren't ready and 3rd party partners failed to provide the support they initially promised. It's easy to blame Nintendo, or Iwata in particular, but a lot of the problems didn't become obvious until it was already too late.

Now, the shitty E3 presentations and the completely terrible marketing in the US and Europe is a real problem, and something they should have seen coming. I still have no idea what happened there.
 
it means we will probably get more of this
LtiPZEl.gif


Can't wait for Nintendo investors meeting, should be soon and *popcorn.gif* worthy

This.

I can't believe how someone could think things will get better now. It will get worse.
 
Vita does not have perfect hardware. The reason it is selling so poorly is because of the hardware. Big, bulky, doesn't have the ability to make phonecalls. It's about 4 years too late to the market. If Sony had released Vita in 2007 they would have had a fighting chance because the explosion in Apps and iPhone/Android hadn't happened yet, even 2008 would have been good. Vita as a device is outmoded and been made irrelevant by Android/iPhone.
And the 3DS is selling better than it why? I dont think hardware and the ability to mock android and iphones is relative in comparing video game handhelds. Maybe N-gage would be perfect now....nahhh.
 
I managed to enjoy FFXIII-2 a decent amount (hell, even FFXIII), and outside of the context of being an FF it actually sounds interesting and possibly quite good. Just not what I really want out of an FF, and likely a completely batshit story in a stupid way FF or not.
With a 2- year development cycle, the chances of it being better than XIII-2 are low. It's not even keeping the same battle system.
 

Eusis

Member
You don't mind me asking but what's the background behind this Yosuke Matsuda fellow?

Business man or gamer man?

...

=(
Brought in about when Yoichi Wada took charge, so... probably following in his footsteps for now at least.
With a 2- year development cycle, the chances of it being better than XIII-2 are low.
This isn't something I claimed either. Though the concept may well lend itself to a shorter but more interesting game, better or not.
 
WOW! What DS weapon is that and how do I get it. Cool armor as well.

It's the Dragon King Greataxe. You get it for cutting off the tail of the boss he just killed with it. It's not very good though.

Anyway, not surprised to see him step down, but surprised it happened just now. Though he'd wait it out until next console launch
 

JoeM86

Member
It is everything to do with the product itself, as other products are selling fine even given their age. It's not the economy, it's not the marketing, it's the product.

The difference in average selling price for the PS3 and Wii U is $60. They are better value for money. They have games to play.
Currency gains - that's Shinzo Abe's doing not Iwata's. So, every system launch in history was a botched launch now?

I can't be arsed to go through the last 20 years so let's look at the 3 last-gen consoles

Xbox 360 - Supply issues. 60% failure rate. Botched
PS3 - Limited game library issues. $600 price. Botched
Wii - Supply issues, limited games in months after launch. Botched
 

BocoDragon

or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Realize This Assgrab is Delicious
When there were the NPD sales freely shared on this one site late last gen I noticed most sequels to games that weren't megahits slowly declined with each sequel. So, yeah, it'd probably do worse just by default, the question is by how much. And I do imagine it'll be a normal decline.

Apparently XII-2 was an abnormally bad decline... And I don't think that game was a slam dunk with the average audience... so it could be worse than the usual sequelitis.
 
And the 3DS is selling better than it why? I dont think hardware and the ability to mock android and iphones is relative in comparing video game handhelds. Maybe N-gage would be perfect now....nahhh.

Affordable, will have Nintendo's first party software library, has direct backwards compatibility with DS games, unique hardware that created quite an eclectic mix of software. Even that's not making the 3DS light up the charts in regions outside of Japan.

It was doing extremely horribly too until the price cut and the arrival of a half decent 3DS software library.
 
I can't be arsed to go through the last 20 years so let's look at the 3 last-gen consoles

Xbox 360 - Supply issues. 60% failure rate. Botched
PS3 - Limited game library issues. $600 price. Botched
Wii - Supply issues, limited games in months after launch. Botched
So we've gone from every system in history, to just the last generation's systems. Of the three, only the PS3 is considered to have bombed at launch in the same way the Wii U and 3DS launches were f-ed up, and it did better than the Wii U is now doing.

There's a difference between a launch having poor logistics and a launch utterly bombing. An inability to create enough supply of a product to meet demand, vs an inability to create a product with any demand. Iwata has presided over two of the latter.

He's next in line after Wada.
 

KiNeSiS

Banned
Vita does not have perfect hardware. The reason it is selling so poorly is because of the hardware. Big, bulky, doesn't have the ability to make phonecalls. It's about 4 years too late to the market. If Sony had released Vita in 2007 they would have had a fighting chance because the explosion in Apps and iPhone/Android hadn't happened yet, even 2008 would have been good. Vita as a device is outmoded and been made irrelevant by Android/iPhone.


You think the Vita is big if the same thing was made in 07 08 It would be the size of a fucking VCR tape overheat & catch fire. I agree that the Vita should be able to make calls, especially since the damned thing has a sim card.
 

Eusis

Member
Apparently XII-2 was an abnormally bad decline... And I don't think that game was a slam dunk with the average audience... so it could be worse than the usual sequelitis.
True, though as a result I don't think LR would dip much further below XIII-2 either. Actually I believe X-2's sales were also way lower than X, though XIII did leave a far worse taste in everyone's mouths.
 
This isn't something I claimed either. Though the concept may well lend itself to a shorter but more interesting game, better or not.
You just moved the goalpost from good to interesting. I certainly think it will be interesting, for better or worse.
 
About time. Maybe now, like Sony seemingly has, pull their heads out of their asses and start acting like they did in the PS1-PS2 era.

Most importantly, they need to stop spreading their staff around among half a dozen projects and focus on 1 or 2, get them the fuck done and shipped, then go to others. This whole "pull members off of game A and have them work on game B" has been stupid as hell and been a clear sign of inept management for years.
 

vall03

Member
I don't know how businesses work, but a tweet I read was SE forecast of $37M profit turned into a $137M loss. Right, thats seriously bad...
 
I knew a lot of people didn't like how he did things and often there were fire him posts. Man this is like surreal...sort of. At this point forward we can just hope they do better.
 

CassSept

Member
3. Care to provide numbers, as I'm finding it hard to believe.

I'm pretty sure it is possible. 3DS did 30 million sales in 7 quarters between it's launch and the end of the last year.

It is much due to Japan and the console is underperforming outside of it, but I'm certain it is highly possible on a worldwide basis that it was the best selling console out of them all in that time period.
 
You're like the Nintendo version of a Juggalo.
Hahaha, I don't even know what that means! But you are a good (wo)man and I like you.
Eusis said:
Brought in about when Yoichi Wada took charge, so... probably following in his footsteps for now at least.
Cheers! I can't say I've been particularly pleased with Wada's reign but I wish him luck in his future endeavours -- a future that still seems to be deficient in TWEWY2. =(
 
And the 3DS is selling better than it why? I dont think hardware and the ability to mock android and iphones is relative in comparing video game handhelds. Maybe N-gage would be perfect now....nahhh.

Because Vita is a multi-touch device which has it's toe in the smartphone market. Nintendo made that decision right, they avoided it completely by sticking with the dual screen concept, something smartphones are not able to replicate with ease. There is nothing on Vita that is impossible to do on smartphones, even with stuff like Uncharted, it's exclusive to Vita because Sony publish it, not because it wouldn't be possible to make on iOS or Android.

The reason Wii U is doing so poorly is because it has its toe in the iPad market but Nintendo didn't fully commit themselves so they ended up with a half baked concept that no one wants. It's suffering from exactly the same problems as Vita.

Sony needed to go all-in with Vita, create an ecosystem that competes with Android/iOS, get app developers on board and get all of the indie game developers on board. They needed to launch with a music store, ebook store, comic book store, video streaming subs, app store and game store all with a decent amount of content to build up. A proper alternative to smartphone gaming. They didn't and Vita is dead in the water.
 

Kikujiro

Member
Hitman's success was probably mostly after it got send to the bomba bin, as far as I can tell. It definitely wasn't a success.

Doesn't change the fact that it still shipped to retailers and they got money. With Versus and FFXIV they lost them money for years and years and the first one is nowhere to see.
 
Doesn't change the fact that it still shipped to retailers and they got money. With Versus and FFXIV they lost them money for years and years and the first one is nowhere to see.
There are probably some provisions for retailers to recoup some of their losses from bombas like Hitman from the publisher.
 
Affordable, will have Nintendo's first party software library, has direct backwards compatibility with DS games. Even that's not making the 3DS light up the charts in regions outside of Japan.

It was doing extremely horribly too until the price cut and the arrival of a half decent 3DS software library.
Well if comparing to the DS then yes. The 3DS is like what 24m WW right now? If its to be believed to last 4-5 more years at this pace it should be able to surpass the gba 80m ww. Thats not bad at all.

edit: 3DS is at 30m WW
 

Shinta

Banned
You just moved the goalpost from good to interesting. I certainly think it will be interesting, for better or worse.

What I've seen looks like I'm definitely going to enjoy it. Not sure what you're trying to even say here.

And lots of people are curious about LR because it's a totally different style of game. I think people who showed up for XIII-2 will be interested in finishing off the trilogy.

Doesn't change the fact that it still shipped to retailers and they got money. With Versus and FFXIV they lost them money for years and years and the first one is nowhere to see.

They say the losses are from sluggish sales in NA and EU. Versus and XIV: ARR aren't even out yet.
 

Eusis

Member
You just moved the goalpost from good to interesting. I certainly think it will be interesting, for better or worse.
I didn't mean to use "good" in a way to say "better than FFXIII-2" either. Though looking back I probably shouldn't have said quite good. I do expect it'll be a decent, likely well made game, but it does have the baggage of the series and the games its directly continuing from, nevermind Toriyama's writing.
 

AOC83

Banned
The hardware was launched too early and in a time when Nintendo was restructuring their development teams. They had to launch early because the predecessors faltered. Their internal teams weren't ready and 3rd party partners failed to provide the support they initially promised. It's easy to blame Nintendo, or Iwata in particular, but a lot of the problems didn't become obvious until it was already too late.

Now, the shitty E3 presentations and the completely terrible marketing in the US and Europe is a real problem, and something they should have seen coming. I still have no idea what happened there.

The problem is that this should´ve happened years ago. Nintendo(Iwata) made the mistake to not prepare themselves for the time after the Wii.
They had 6 years were they basically just needed to collect money from the Wii with barely any effort to build a competitive online infrastructure, prepare their teams for HD development and built a well designed, powerful but also reasonably priced hardware.
 

Bruno MB

Member
True, though as a result I don't think LR would dip much further below XIII-2 either. Actually I believe X-2's sales were also way lower than X, though XIII did leave a far worse taste in everyone's mouths.

Square Enix somehow managed to ship over 3 million units of Final Fantasy XIII-2. This time, they can be considered lucky if Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII reaches half of that amount.
 

Perkel

Banned
DAT Western approach
DAT mobile gaming
DAT remasters
DAT Xbox360 exclusive JRPGs
DAT appreciation for their best developers

Nothing but a streak of amazing choices. Without buying EIDOS Square-Enix would be already dead.

Looks like GAF was right.
 

m.i.s.

Banned
Nintendo would be in a far worse position than they are now if the Wii U was as powerful as the PS4. It'd be sold at a considerable loss, it being successful would be the worst idea and would make them just lose money constantly with software unlikely to make up for it.

Yes. It just isn't in Nintendo's DNA to just go all out like that. Nintendo are doing what they've always done. Producing small, efficient, mass market computer game systems with mature technology so that they are able to be manufactured at speed ("games consoles" with value added apps and services).
 

Zukuu

Banned
What I've seen looks like I'm definitely going to enjoy it. Not sure what you're trying to even say here.

And lots of people are curious about LR because it's a totally different style of game. I think people who showed up for XIII-2 will be interested in finishing off the trilogy.



They say the losses are from sluggish sales in NA and EU. Versus and XIV: ARR aren't even out yet.

I bought 13-2 because nothing else was interesting enough in that time and it was terrible. I'll stay away from LR a mile at all times.
 

deleted

Member
Deus Ex sold around the same as XIII-2, but cost a lot more to make I'm sure. Sleeping Dogs was not a success. Sold like 90,000k first month when I'm sure they wanted millions, considering it literally is better than GTA IV. Tomb Raider is their biggest brand name besides FF and DQ. They invested very heavily in the game. It's doing decently but I'm sure they wanted, and rightfully expected, a gigantic hit with this game. It's a masterpiece.

Thief 4 is also being moved to next gen. And how much is Soul Suspect actually going to sell? Eidos makes great stuff, but the sales are really not setting the world on fire, at all.

And Hitman mega, mega bombed. And it looks like a very expensive game to make.

Why would Deus Ex cost a lot more than XIII-2? S-E shipped over 2m copies at the end of 2011, not including digital or sales of the DLC and whatever they managed to ship in the last year. They are also gearing up to release a Wii U version/remastered version that will bring in extra cash.
For 2011:
Square-Enix had initially predicted a company-wide ¥1.5B ($US19.2M) profit for the April-September period, but the company ended up posting earnings of ¥3.7B ($US47.45M). This is largely attributed to the success of Human Revolution, which Square Enix's report drily calls a “favorable result.”
Sleeping Dogs sold 172k first month in NPD, not including PC or worldwide. They stated they shipped 1,5m copies in November. It was also a game that was snatched up very late in development. They didn't have to fund the whole game and they sure as hell didn't expect it to sell like GTA IV, even if the expectations may have been a bit higher.

I have nothing on Hitman. I guess it didn't set the world on fire, but did it really bomb that hard? Do you have any official statements?
And Tomb Raider seems to do quite good - lets wait for NPD sales or S-E financial report before we settle on it.

What I'm saying is:
The PC devision and Eidos contributes to S-E making money, as far as we know.
Let's hope the new CEO sees it that way too.
 

Xater

Member
Yes. It just isn't in Nintendo's DNA to just go all out like that. Nintendo are doing what they've always done. Producing small, efficient computer game systems ("games consoles" with value added apps and services).

They have only been doing that since the Wii. Don't pretend like that is something they always did.
 

KiNeSiS

Banned
Hahaha, I don't even know what that means! But you are a good (wo)man and I like you.

Cheers! I can't say I've been particularly pleased with Wada's reign but I wish him luck in his future endeavours -- a future that still seems to be deficient in TWEWY2. =(



Thanks, DKCR is super dope!

*internet dap*
 
Doesn't change the fact that it still shipped to retailers and they got money. With Versus and FFXIV they lost them money for years and years and the first one is nowhere to see.

But it hints a systemic problem with Eidos games, that is literally everything they make is high profile in budget yet has its price cut to shreds almost immediately after launch.

Square Enix, generally speaking, in the market of AAA games yet they're completely unable to put out products that are produced in a timely manner or able to retain their MSRP, and thus not completely ruin their profit margins.

Why would Deus Ex cost a lot more than XIII-2? S-E shipped over 2m copies at the end of 2011, not including digital or sales of the DLC and whatever they managed to ship in the last year.

XIII-2 obviously took less care and effort than XIII and reused a lot of assets. Tri-Ace (or Tri Ace + SE) also pumped it out fairly quickly so it wasn't a development hell quagmire.
 
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