What I Hope the New CEO Will Do for Square Enix

While I don't loath Square Enix, I've made it not secret that, like many of my gaming brethren, I believe that both Square and Enix put out much better products when they were two separate companies. Recently it was divulged that Yoichi Wada, the President and CEO of the company since 2000 is stepping down. Wada's resignation comes from the results of Square Enix's huge financial losses. Representative Director Yousuke Matsuda is set to take his place and a massive restructuring of Square Enix will follow.

I've long since wanted to see a turn around for Square Enix. I don't take any pleasure in seeing any game company I like lose millions. While I'm glad this revaluation is taking place, I'm sorry that the company had to lose so much cash to arrive at this point. But in order to get back up, you have to knocked down to begin with so I like to think that somewhere in all of these dark clouds lies some blessings for Square Enix.

Square Enix has so many existing IPs that have been locked up in their vault while Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and Dragon Quest get all the attention. The 32-bit days of the PlayStation saw one of the most experimental times for Square. We were treated to game such as Brave Fencer Musashi, Parasite Eve, Vagrant Story, Bushido Blade and Xenogears to name a few. One need only look through their library of PlayStation Network titles to see that Square was about far more than Final Fantasy. With this potential turn around for Square Enix, I desperately hope we see more creativity from them. Perhaps they will give these dormant franchises a Phoenix Down and create some new IPs like The World Ends With You, one of Square Enix's most original games in a very long time.

But Square Enix has hit a few of the right notes. Theatrhythm Final Fantasy has give me hours of entertainment and despite not living up to the company's stupidly high expectations, Sleeping Dogs, Hitman Absolution and Tomb Raider have been million sellers.

So I'd love to see old Square Enix franchises brought back, new ones created and less reliance on Final Fantasy. Really, do we need another entry in the XIII saga? From my understanding, the answer is a resounding "NO!" So Square Enix, the ball is in your court. The question is, what will you do with it.