Don't panic! Yoshida said everything'll be all right after Wada's resignation

Thanks for the translation Abriael, I appreciate it.
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Originally Posted by ShellQ8

Thanks for the translation Abriael, I appreciate it.
+1

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My pleasure :D

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Originally Posted by Platinumstorm

Since I'm not interested in playing corporate armchair and pretending I know something about Squeex's organization, I'll just say I hope that FFXIV gets the time it needs to be successful. With "financial ruin" up for the next Square reports there will be temptation to shove XIV out the door. If this happens it will retread old ground, and I don't think anyone wants that.

Mixed thoughts on his dismissal, mostly feel bad.

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With cash and deposits of 93.15 billion yen at the end of Q3 2013, there is no immediate existential threat to the the company – however, Matsuda will be tasked with finding a way to maximise the return on the existing games pipeline, and strategizing to focus on profit increases from their major releases while Square Enix’s investments in mobile gaming in the East continue to build

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http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielny...oss-predicted/

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Originally Posted by Pseudopsia

http://www.forbes.com/sites/danielny...oss-predicted/

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Good find. That's pretty much it.

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Originally Posted by Starlord

If you think so, I'm just putting my two cents in, not looking for an arguement.

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Starlord, the mistake you made was you were "wrong", and he has to correct you even though you're correct. When one of your lead developers say "this needs more time", the higher ups, the one who runs the company and are in charge of all things business, has the say so in "ok you get more time!" or "no push it out by x!"

Then again, maybe in 2009-2013 businesses work differently, everyone can do what the fuck they want with or without investor/high up say so.

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he has to correct you even though you're correct.

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Okay? Correct me for being correct?

Either that's a metaphor of some sort, or I don't get why he would have to correct me when I'm already correct?

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Originally Posted by Elexia

Starlord, the mistake you made was you were "wrong", and he has to correct you even though you're correct. When one of your lead developers say "this needs more time", the higher ups, the one who runs the company and are in charge of all things business, has the say so in "ok you get more time!" or "no push it out by x!"

Then again, maybe in 2009-2013 businesses work differently, everyone can do what the fuck they want with or without investor/high up say so.

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Of course you're completely forgetting the very solid (and actually much more likely) possibility that the executive board (because in 2009-2013 or before this kind of decision isn't taken by the CEO alone in any kind of sizable company, when the CEO has any part at all in taking it, as it's often often taken below the highest executive levels) was misadvised about the state of readyness of the game.

It's not the CEO's (or the executive board's) role to gauge the state of readyness of a game. They don't have the technical know-how to do so, and they're not required to have it. They take informed decisions based on the data provided by producers, that base their reports partly on their own experience and partly on other reports provided by the team leads.

If you think Tanaka went to Wada on his knees to beg for more time and was single handedly told by Wada "FU, just release and stop whining!" I see a lot of naivete there.

Mind you, the lapse could or could not be Tanaka's fault. Considering his role he may have been misadvised himself (while the fact that the Producer is the crucial link between developers and executives means that he has the biggest chances of having been the source of the issue, we still have no elements to firmly state that he was). The simple meat of the issue is that we don't know where the problem was, and throwing personal accusations based on nothing is completely childish.

Hello,

Below is a post from Yoshi-P in regards to today's news.

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Originally Posted by Naoki_Yoshida

Producer and Director Yoshida here.

I thought I should give some answers ahead of the Producer Letter Live.

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Originally Posted by LitryQuis

I would also like to know whether Wada-san stepping down will have an impact on the development of FFXIV:ARR and future developments.

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The plans, stance and structure of the development team will not be affected at all so rest assured. Some have been saying to me "You haven't posted on the forums that much recently, has this news affected you?" but it is simply a matter of me feeling like I'm going to die from the Beta operations being in full swing (heh…)

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Originally Posted by LitryQuis

Wada said that FFXIV: ARR will bring back the FF brand, and by just developing without a thought about the profits, I am now worried that what has just happened will have a huge impact. You can say that they have raised their level of perfection and aren’t slacking to avoid the game failing for a second time. But there might be split of the development budget and the billing structure may be affected after the game has been released… These are just some of the things I had been thinking about.

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There will be absolutely no changes to our policy. We will continue to support the whole company and we are working at full speed for the launch of ARR.

You could actually say that the we feel the responsibilities we have with FFXIV:ARR even more, but as the Producer and Director I am well prepared to face this and anything that comes our way, and we will put all our effort into delivering the greatest game to you all.

Please rest assured :)

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Originally Posted by Camate

Hello,

Below is a post from Yoshi-P in regards to today's news.

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Thanks for the official translation Camate. I'm glad to see mine wasn't far off :D

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Originally Posted by Naoki_Yoshida

Some have been saying to me "You haven't posted on the forums that much recently, has this news affected you?" but it is simply a matter of me feeling like I'm going to die from the Beta operations being in full swing (heh…) [...] and we will put all our effort into delivering the greatest game to you all.

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lol It's like delivering a baby right?

Don't worry, once it's over you won't remember a thing. ;)

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Originally Posted by Abriael

Thanks for the official translation Camate. I'm glad to see mine wasn't far off :D

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Thank you Abriael and thank you Camate. Appreciate the translations and the news. Looking forward to the next Live Letter from the Producer.

Wada may have seen the writing on the wall in advance. On the financial end, there is always a cost for failure to perform. However, he fully stocked SE's pipeline with pure awesome for the upcoming financial year (Not sure which year Tomb Raider's sales will contribute to, but that'll soften the blow a bit). Lightning returns, 150-200k XIV subscribers, KH HD remake , in addition to Eidos continually bringing out quality games all spell a better future in store for the company's financials.

More important is the fact that SE's image is starting to improve from it's low point, starting around 2009-2011. In-house developers (Eidos has really impressed me lately) are partially responsible for it, as well as Yoshi-P and the ARR dev team. If anything, it feels as if we've hit bottom awhile ago (with the financial numbers just catching up to that), and the turn around will show itself in fan/critical reception and sales numbers (albeit later).

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Originally Posted by Deakka

Wada may have seen the writing on the wall in advance. On the financial end, there is always a cost for failure to perform. However, he fully stocked SE's pipeline with pure awesome for the upcoming financial year (Not sure which year Tomb Raider's sales will contribute to, but that'll soften the blow a bit). Lightning returns, 150-200k XIV subscribers, KH HD remake , in addition to Eidos continually bringing out quality games all spell a better future in store for the company's financials.

More important is the fact that SE's image is starting to improve from it's low point, starting around 2009-2011. In-house developers (Eidos has really impressed me lately) are partially responsible for it, as well as Yoshi-P and the ARR dev team. If anything, it feels as if we've hit bottom awhile ago (with the financial numbers just catching up to that), and the turn around will show itself in fan/critical reception and sales numbers (albeit later).

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This. By being to be able to pre-empt shareholder reactions, Wada has had the space to engage in succession planning and set the company up for a killer year next year, while ensuring any desire among shareholders to see heads roll are immediately countered.

Well as many will be happy to chime in to say we really don't and most likely never will have the whole story, but I am sure Wada might be taking on for the team if not ceremoninally so. If the investors force a reorg Wada might still have a seat but many of the employees would be shifted, adjusted, and/or cut.

From the little information we have about SE as a whole Wada did his job and worked what he had resource-wise very well. SE made some jumps that many would have withdrawn from that most likely pulled in profit we will never know about. One of which will be their support of CG film which many sooth sayers were claiming to be their biggest mistake and would lead to another spirit's within but yet Advent Children was a huge hit, now if it was a financial success we have no records. Also support of anime and manga ventures all things that are really out of the scope but did lead to bringing things out that consumers did enjoy. Not every CEO will have a huge hit or even a string of them but the boat is still afloat and you can't fault that.

Though I don't know exactly what the truth was behind 1.0 and why Tanaka did it (rumors are rumors)... I can't help but feel that he's to blame.

For me, it always felt that 1.0 was pushed out due to the Board of Directors, not the CEO or Tanaka. They felt that WoW Cataclysm release was a threat to their game's release. So the entire BoD told Tanaka, get this out ASAP, not just Wada alone. Cause when they first annouced FFXIV at the E3 a year plus before, Tanaka wanted to do at least 6 months of Open Beta, which didn't happen.

As far as the current state of losses for the current fiscal year, well the entire world is hurting. People have not been as well off financially for a few years now and it is starting to effect the entertainment world.

The factor is, in the MMO market. Players of MMOs will pick up all the MMOs that they are interested in. So the key points that need to be made with the MMO market is retention of players. Give the player a reason to come back tomorrow.

I feel that Wada is stepping down because one of the other members of the Board of Directors is saying he can give a better image to Square Enix to bring them out of the negative. Wada will probably continue as a Representative Director, as listed on this site. http://www.hd.square-enix.com/eng/company/officer.html

Gracias for the info. :)

Tank you for this post, I got my hopes back up :)

Thank you for the info!... I wasn't worried though, I just always start panicking randomly for no reason whatsoever >>;

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Originally Posted by Lady

Thank you for the info!... I wasn't worried though, I just always start panicking randomly for no reason whatsoever >>;

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A lot of people do, apparently :D

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Originally Posted by ClausL

Blaming a company's president for his actions is much less silly than saying you'll "miss him" (you'll miss a company president...?) and "he deserves more credit".

Oh please. He goofed. He's losing his job. That's it. Don't shed too many tears over him, I'm sure he'll continue to be rich and overpaid.

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Oh wow, he's resigning not getting fired. There is a difference. He'll still work for SE. Now whether this is a forceful resignation or not that's an entirely different story, and we'll probably never know that answer.

It's also totally up to Wada, if he stays with Square Enix. This is the same thing when Tanaka left. He resigned and chose not to stay with the company. He was never fired. He left on his own accord.

Good, now fix the GCD, game is horrible only because of that.

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Originally Posted by shanvhere

Good, now fix the GCD, game is horrible only because of that.

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Since I've never heard global cool down applied to 1.0, I have to assume you are either referring to the ARR beta or some totally unrelated game. The former is an NDA breach and can (and should) cost you your account.

Technically you can observe it in the officially released alpha videos, but people should be more careful about mentioning things that may not be public knowledge.

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Originally Posted by HiirNoivl

lol It's like delivering a baby right?

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In the UK news yesterday was a report of a baby boy being born weighing 15lb 7oz .. seems perhaps your analogy to Yoshi's ordeal would be near the mark with that one as an example. :)

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Originally Posted by Linkurrra

Oh wow, he's resigning not getting fired.

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That's Corporate for "YOUR FIRED!".

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Originally Posted by Pwnagraphic

That's Corporate for "YOUR FIRED!".

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Not really. In the corporate world people do resign even without being fired.

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Originally Posted by Abriael

Not really. In the corporate world people do resign even without being fired.

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Now if he was "retired" that would be worrying...SE's cost cutting measures would be decidedly cutthroat then....

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Originally Posted by Abriael

Not really. In the corporate world people do resign even without being fired.

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Yeah they do.. and they also tell the public they resigned because they screwed up royally and they'd rather not ruin their image. I stood here and WITNESSED it happen at my job. It's called force resignation.

I, and a few people, know why the dude "resigned" and everyone else thinks he did it out of his own free will.

COME AT ME, BRO!

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Originally Posted by Pwnagraphic

Yeah they do.. and they also tell the public they resigned because they screwed up royally and they'd rather not ruin their image. I stood here and WITNESSED it happen at my job. It's called force resignation.

I, and a few people, know why the dude "resigned" and everyone else thinks he did it out of his own free will.

COME AT ME, BRO!

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Nanomachines, son. /throughdeadpan

If you think this isn't a forced resignation you're plain crazy. This is what happens in the business world. In general huge president/CEOs don't get "fired", everyone looks bad in that situation. They 'step down'.

He didn't just suddenly decide that he wanted to stop making all those millions of dollars a year.

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Originally Posted by Abriael

"It's all Wada's fault!"

This comment reminds the utter ignorance i roll my eyes at when I read people rejoicing because Riccitiello was removed as EA's CEO.

Seriously, you know nothing on how the management of a company works.

If anything Wada is to be thanked for supporting the release of A Realm Reborn, which is one of the most positive actions I've seen a game publisher do in a decade.




... and it's kind of funny that most of the comments I roll my eyes at around here come pretty much from the same source...

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*cough* Clausl*cough* *hack* *wheeze* *dies*

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Originally Posted by ClausL

If you think this isn't a forced resignation you're plain crazy. This is what happens in the business world. In general huge president/CEOs don't get "fired", everyone looks bad in that situation. They 'step down'.

He didn't just suddenly decide that he wanted to stop making all those millions of dollars a year.

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Look.. You have no idea what you're talking about and I won't beat you down with facts because I do happen to work in the, and I quote, "business world" end of quote. If you feel better knowing he willfully resigned, it's all good. I'm not trying to convince you that's what happened because I am more along the lines of joking than anything, but just so you know.. this does happen often.

CEO's who resign also get a severance package that could be worth several million dollars even after they resign so..

My point is.. You only know what they tell you. Nothing more.

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Originally Posted by finiteHP

Since I've never heard global cool down applied to 1.0, I have to assume you are either referring to the ARR beta or some totally unrelated game. The former is an NDA breach and can (and should) cost you your account.

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It's been mentioned quite a bit outside the alpha/beta, so it should be safe. And yes, it sucks, but better leave all that poison for the ARR forums instead.

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Originally Posted by Pwnagraphic

Look.. You have no idea what you're talking about and I won't beat you down with facts because I do happen to work in the, and I quote, "business world" end of quote. If you feel better knowing he willfully resigned, it's all good. I'm not trying to convince you that's what happened because I am more along the lines of joking than anything, but just so you know.. this does happen often.

CEO's who resign also get a severance package that could be worth several million dollars even after they resign so..

My point is.. You only know what they tell you. Nothing more.

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I didn't say Wada would ever be hurting for money, but I think it's very obvious he was asked to step down. Are you arguing with that?

Yeah, we don't KNOW anything for sure, but this is how it always work around there.

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Originally Posted by ClausL

I didn't say Wada would ever be hurting for money, but I think it's very obvious he was asked to step down. Are you arguing with that?

Yeah, we don't KNOW anything for sure, but this is how it always work around there.

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No, it doesn't "always" work like that. And the sole fact that you say so demonstrates that you don't know what you're talking about.

Fact is that we don't know. That's all there's to it.

Okay, this is crazy.

Abriael, thank you for posting this intriguing piece of news.

However, Wada is at fault - not to the extreme end like a lot of fans believe, though. In an artistic industry such as this, it falls to the CEO to make decisions for the company's prosperity. Sleeping Dogs and Hitman: Absolution had underwhelming sales. Final Fantasy XIII and XIV would have killed the company entirely if it weren't for its other projects. Final Fantasy XIII-2 was a commercial failure, being one of the lowest-selling games of the franchise. Since Final Fantasy X, the sales of each subsequent Final Fantasy game have been dropping.

However, the company is still going regardless. In fact, I believe it could have been much worse. A new, more involved director can swing this company back towards the high road. But the rocky roller-coaster of successes and failures in the past several years are due partly to lack of judgement from all sides. Wada was supposed to be the guy to notice that on the get-go and do something about it. He was the top of the pyramid - his actions - and inaction - affected the company regardless.

However, he isn't a horrible James Bond villain. He doesn't feed on the tears of starving children like Mitt Romney does with his morning toast. He sure as hell doesn't piss all over the little people like Bobby Kotik, EA, and Sony does every minute on the hour. He doesn't have the God complex that Richard Garriot has despite the fact that Ultimas 8, 9, and 10 were piles of Gobbue dung.

There are so many fans out there who believe that Wada is to be put on the same pedestal as Electronic Farts, Cracktivision and Sony. They are so wrong. He wasn't perfect - I don't even classify him as being good - but he's not as horrible as people say that he is.

And Abriael, he's not as good as you think he is either. You have personally derailed your own thread with incessant whiteknighting and have acted like a fart for 8 pages.

Thanks for the news, though.

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Originally Posted by yoshikwalla

Okay, this is crazy.

Abriael, thank you for posting this intriguing piece of news.

However, Wada is at fault - not to the extreme end like a lot of fans believe, though. In an artistic industry such as this, it falls to the CEO to make decisions for the company's prosperity. Sleeping Dogs and Hitman: Absolution had underwhelming sales. Final Fantasy XIII and XIV would have killed the company entirely if it weren't for its other projects. Final Fantasy XIII-2 was a commercial failure, being one of the lowest-selling games of the franchise. Since Final Fantasy X, the sales of each subsequent Final Fantasy game have been dropping.

However, the company is still going regardless. In fact, I believe it could have been much worse. A new, more involved director can swing this company back towards the high road. But the rocky roller-coaster of successes and failures in the past several years are due partly to lack of judgement from all sides. Wada was supposed to be the guy to notice that on the get-go and do something about it. He was the top of the pyramid - his actions - and inaction - affected the company regardless.

However, he isn't a horrible James Bond villain. He doesn't feed on the tears of starving children like Mitt Romney does with his morning toast. He sure as hell doesn't piss all over the little people like Bobby Kotik, EA, and Sony does every minute on the hour. He doesn't have the God complex that Richard Garriot has despite the fact that Ultimas 8, 9, and 10 were piles of Gobbue dung.

There are so many fans out there who believe that Wada is to be put on the same pedestal as Electronic Farts, Cracktivision and Sony. They are so wrong. He wasn't perfect - I don't even classify him as being good - but he's not as horrible as people say that he is.

And Abriael, he's not as good as you think he is either. You have personally derailed your own thread with incessant whiteknighting and have acted like a fart for 8 pages.

Thanks for the news, though.

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Hey, hold on. I really didn't see Abriael "white-knighting" anyone. I saw him mention that none of us truly know the circumstances of Wada's stepping down (which, despite a lot of people's insinuations to the contrary, we don't). I also saw Claus jumping on the name-calling train quickly (seriously, calling someone a "dolt" is a little uncalled for). And it's true, we don't know a thing about why Wada has stepped down. We can all make assumptions from here to doomsday, but until the facts are told to us by a higher-up in the company, that's all they are. Assumptions. People really need to calm down.

^ This.. you all guessing. And it looks silly that you all take it for pure fact and truth. people who work at SE probably don't know why he is stepping down. I know usually they send out a mass internal email that will let everyone know about the situation. And gossip around the office will sometimes get the real story too if you know the right people.

Also, company's are going to give the "public eye" the professional publicized reason for an event that happens in a company. A company is a family, for the most, and at times they will save face and not give 100% reason why a decision is begin made to public viewing. Just the necessary.