Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada explained his company’s strong embrace of globalization and digital distribution in an interview with VentureBeat earlier this month.
Wada has been a strong proponent of digital distribution and he claims in the interview with VentureBeat, “Dependence on packaged software sales may not be viable.” He put his commitment to alternative distribution sources on display last week when he personally apologized to Japanese gamers via Twitter that the Square Enix games discounted during Steam’s Fourth of July sale were accidentally marked up to full price in Japan. He characterized the incident as a miscommunication and announced that Japanese gamers would have full access to the Steam sale shortly.
Globalization entails more than giving Japanese players access to foreign sales. The company bought Montreal based publisher Eidos last year, effectively giving them access to a large pool of western IP and talent. “As a company, we are pursuing globalization and a transformation to become network-centric. To do that, we are working on collaborative projects between Eidos and our Tokyo studio,” said Wada. Square Enix’s Tokyo based animators created the E3 trailer for Deus Ex: Human Revolution.
