Square Enix president, Yoichi Wada, has told the Financial Times that the company is open to further expanding its operations in the West by acquiring more publishers.
“In the last five to 10 years, the Japanese games industry has become a closed environment, with no new people coming in, no new ideas, almost xenophobic. It is now slightly behind western counterparts.”
Referring to the £84m acquisition of Eidos, Wada hopes the deal will help to expand out of the “closed environment” in which the company is operating.
“The combination of Eidos and Square Enix gives us a good platform from which to expand. In that process, we might decide to acquire another company,”
Square Enix will will work as an independent subsidiary and Wada has no plans to change the Eidos at the present time.
“It is always difficult to manage creatives anywhere in the world. We want to cherish the Eidos studio culture but change it where it is necessary.”
Published: Apr 29, 2009 08:06 am