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

Yoshida posted on the Japanese boards to say that everything'll be all right.

Here's my quick translation (copied and pasted directly from my article, so please forgive the article-like tone)

Final Fantasy XIV: A Realm Reborn Producer and Director Naoki Yoshida immediately took to the official Japanese Lodestone forums reassuring the fans, and clarifying that the change in leadership and the restructuring won’t have any effect on the development of the game:

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"Please be assured that our development policy, development attitude and development structure won’t be affected at all."

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He also added that the reason why he didn’t communicate much recently wasn’t due to the news released today, but simply because he has been very busy with the game’s beta testing (the first phase has just ended and the second phase will begin within the first ten days of April). He continued with his usual positive attitude:

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"Our policies haven’t changed at all, and we’re pushing forward to the launch of the new game backed by the support of the whole company.
Actually our sense of responsibility towards the rebirth of Final Fantasy XIV is strengthened. As producer and Director I’m determined and prepared for it and I’m working hard to deliver the best game I can.
Please don’t worry."

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He finally followed up with a further post stating that concern from the fans is understandable and thanking them for it.

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Of course if anyone that understands Japanese better than me sees any mistake in the translation feel free to correct me, but it should be all right.

Thanks for posting this <3

Much appreciated.

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Originally Posted by Drazzan

Thanks for posting this <3

Much appreciated.

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Glad to be of service :D

Who's gonna sit in the middle of the Live Letters, and keep shoving pieces of paper into the microphone over and over now?

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Originally Posted by KiriA500

Who's gonna sit in the middle of the Live Letters, and keep shoving pieces of paper into the microphone over and over now?

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I actually think we're gonna see Wada at least in the next letter still. He's not going to leave until June, and he deserves the credit.

Honestly when he'll be gone, I'll miss him. He deserves much more credit than people give him.

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Originally Posted by Abriael

Honestly when he'll be gone, I'll miss him. He deserves much more credit than people give him.

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Why? It would seem that all Wada has managed to do is sully the Final Fantasy and Square Enix name.

Square Enix post-2006 is a sad joke.

I hope Wada is in the Live Letter 6.

Even though it was probably his call to release before Cataclysm, he has been very supportive and actually played 1.0 a lot.

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Originally Posted by ClausL

Why? It would seem that all Wada has managed to do is sully the Final Fantasy and Square Enix name.

Square Enix post-2006 is a sad joke.

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"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...

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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Originally Posted by ClausL

Blaming a company's president for his actions

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May want to use the correct wording "Blaming a company's president for the company's actions" Which is an entirely different (and quite ignorant) thing.

I'll definitely miss Wada's skits in the live letters, which is what we're talking about. Now back under that bridge, please.

It must be nice to label anyone you don't like as a 'troll'.

The fact is that you look like a crazed fanboy. You're even defending some fat cat CEO, and totally ignoring the direction that he personally brought the company in. Even if the ideas were not all his own, he takes responsibility as the company president. You seem like the one who does not understand how business and management work.

The Square Enix name doesn't mean anything to people as a brand name anymore. It certainly doesn't scream 'quality'. I do think Yoichi Wada is partially to blame for this, and I approve of the decision to get rid of him.

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Originally Posted by ClausL

It must be nice to label anyone you don't like as a 'troll'.

The fact is that you look like a crazed fanboy. You're even defending some fat cat CEO, and totally ignoring the direction that he personally brought the company in. Even if the ideas were not all his own, he takes responsibility as the company president. You seem like the one who does not understand how business and management work.

The Square Enix name doesn't mean anything to people as a brand name anymore. It certainly doesn't scream 'quality'. I do think Yoichi Wada is partially to blame for this, and I approve of the decision to get rid of him.

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Honestly we do not know if they got rid of him. He simply could of just decided to step down...

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Originally Posted by ClausL

It must be nice to label anyone you don't like as a 'troll'.

The fact is that you look like a crazed fanboy. You're even defending some fat cat CEO for some reason, and totally ignoring the direction that he personally brought the company in. Even if the ideas were not all his own, he takes responsibility as the company president. You seem like the one who does not understand how business and management work.

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"taking responsibility" and "being at fault" are two very different concepts.

Anyone that knows anything about business management and game development knows very well that executives have in most cases no direct experience of the actual state of development of their games. Even when they do, they lack the technical knowledge to judge. Wada is a businessman, not a developer.

What they know is told them by producers, that serve as a link between executives and developers. While we'll never know (which nails your position as nonsensical, since you have no idea on how things went, and have no elements to fault Wada personally) Common sense dictates that the most likely scenario is that Wada was told that the game was ready by the producers mandated to inform him and greenlighted its release.

But of course some here don't know what common sense is, let alone actual knowledge on the industry.

I need no "some reason" to "defend" someone when he's accused on a personal level without any logical element or evidence to back it up.

You also have no grounds by which to praise him, celebrate him, or mourn his leaving.

I'm judging him based on the direction the company has taken since he was president.

Your celebrating him is just blind fanboyism. I guess simply supporting ARR is enough in your eyes.

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Originally Posted by Abriael

"It's all Wada's fault!"

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"IT'S ALL TANAKA'S FAULT EVEN THOUGH HE DOESN'T MAKE DECISIONS FOR SE!"

If any blame is to be placed anywhere it's on the higher ups in the company. You don't blame the intern for a high profile project for a company being less than quality..at least you didn't when I grew up in Japan. Maybe in America you do.

However I do agree, you can blame the whole company for what's been happening as even Yoshida feels the exact same (not one person to blame.)

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Originally Posted by Abriael

"taking responsibility" and "being at fault" are two very different concepts.

Anyone that knows anything about business management and game development knows very well that executives have no direct experience of the actual state of development of their games. Even when they do, they lack the technical knowledge to judge. Wada is a businessman, not a developer.

What they know is told them by producers, that serve as a link between executives and developers. While we'll never know (which nails your position as nonsensical, since you have no idea on how things went, and have no elements to fault Wada personally) Common sense dictates that the most likely scenario is that Wada was told that the game was ready by the producers mandated to inform him and greenlighted its release.

But of course some here don't know what common sense is, let alone actual knowledge on the industry.

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fact is, management only looks at the numbers there sole purpose is to make money or in worse case break even, if something aint right they want blood. in management its target numbers or gtfo and thats is it.

Yoshi-P for new CEO!

SE needs a person who knows games to run the company, not another bean counter (which is what this Yousuke Matsuda appears to be).

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Originally Posted by ClausL

You also have no grounds by which to praise him, celebrate him, or mourn his leaving.

I'm judging him based on the direction the company has taken since he was president.

Your celebrating him is just blind fanboyism. I guess simply supporting ARR is enough in your eyes.

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And i guess that even thought this doesn't affect you in any given way, your choice to argue this comes from the fact that, either you are a "troll" or have nothing better to do?

Or must people always look at things from your perspective or they are wrong?
But then again i guess we shouldn't be defending "Fat CEOs" right?

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Originally Posted by ClausL

You also have no grounds by which to praise him, celebrate him, or mourn his leaving.

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1: His skits were damn funny and he entertained me, showing a face that's VERY rarely shown by Japanese businessmen. That's ground enough by itself.
2: His role means he had direct input in taking the decision of completely rebooting Final Fantasy XIV, which is something unheard of in the market, and definitely commendable, as it gives those that paid for FFXIV a good product for their money. They could have easily done away with it instead like many other companies did telling their customers "thanks for all the fish".

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I'm judging him based on the direction the company has taken since he was president.

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While you know absolutely nothing about how much he directly influenced that direction.

So you're accusing someone on a personal level without any element to back up your accusation.

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Originally Posted by Eekiki

Yoshi-P for new CEO!

SE needs a person who knows games to run the company, not another bean counter (which is what this Yousuke Matsuda appears to be).

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Any developer will tell you that developers are not suited to be CEOs. Bean counters and not developers take that role because there's lots of beans to be counted and no development to be done.

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Originally Posted by Ankou

Or must people always look at things from your perspective or they are wrong?
But then again i guess we shouldn't be defending "Fat CEOs" right?

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Funny, because Wada ihas a stocky build, but he's most definitely not fat. Shows how much someone knows when he points his angry little finger.

I still want Wada in the next live letters if possibile..

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Originally Posted by Abriael

Funny, because Wada ihas a stocky build, but he's most definitely not fat. Shows how much someone knows when he points his angry little finger.

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Calling someone a 'fat cat CEO' would be an expression you dolt.

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Originally Posted by ClausL

Calling someone a 'fat cat CEO' would be an expression

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It's a generalizing and negativity-laden expression used to demean when one has no logical elements to do so.

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you dolt.

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I rest my case.

To be honest, Yes the company as a whole is as much to blame as Wada is. However, Wada is the Captain of the ship. Everything that happens goes through him to give the "Order" to release/make command. The Captain is suppose to be a leader and guide there followers/workers to the path of success!

The game that have failed under his lead was mostly has fault, He could have said about FFXIV 1.0, um.. this needs a lot more work and give a thumbs down! He greenlighted FFXIV 1.0 and it failed ( example).

The leader always takes responsibility for everyone's actions! Wada is a good man and he did bring out some good games. Overall though, It has put SE backs against the wall (despite their deep pockets).

Post-2009 there can be no excuse made for Final Fantasies general lack of innovation. As the CEO it's your job (see Steve Jobs) to make changes, innovate your industry, and focus on the things that have made you the most amount of $$$ (Oh HAI FFXI, and any title before X).

True. I think the topic creator thinks nobody should have to take any accountability, even with so much money and so many people's jobs at stake.

Square Enix should just keep paying Wada millions of dollars a year because he's 'funny on the live videos'.

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Originally Posted by Starlord

The game that have failed under his lead was mostly has fault, He could have said about FFXIV 1.0, um.. this needs a lot more work and give a thumbs down! He greenlighted FFXIV 1.0 and it failed ( example).

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It's not a CEO's responsibility to judge or "say" if a game needs more work. That is in no way or form part of his job description.

It's the developers' responsibility to make that judgement and the producers' responsibility to relay that judgement to the executive board, the CEO and the CFO.

That's to say: You're completely off target.

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Originally Posted by ClausL

True. I think the topic creator thinks nobody should have to take any accountability, even with so much money and so many people's jobs at stake.

Square Enix should just keep paying Wada millions of dollars a year because he's 'funny on the live videos'.

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Are you a shareholder? Otherwise I see no reason why you'd be worried about who is paid for what.

Wada has taken responsibility for the financial losses. That has nothing to do with accusing him to be personally at fault for FFXIV's failure, which is an extremely ignorant thing to do, for reason that have already been explained and you didn't in any way manage to counter.

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Originally Posted by Abriael

It's not a CEO's responsibility to judge or "say" if a game needs more work. That is in no way or form part of his job description.

It's the developers' responsibility to make that judgement and the producers' responsibility to relay that judgement to the executive board.

That's to say: You're completely off target.



Are you a shareholder? Otherwise I see no reason why you'd be worried about who is paid for what.

Wada has taken responsibility for the financial losses. That has nothing to do with accusing him to be personally at fault for FFXIV's failure, which is an extremely ignorant thing to do, for reason that have already been explained and you didn't in any way manage to counter.

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

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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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I don't think so. I know so, as that's the standard division of roles for executives, producers and developers in basically every major gaming company.

Executives make decisions based on what producers tell them, and producers base them on what developers tell them.

When you're the last link of the chain of a technical decision process and you have no technical expertise on the subject of that decision it's very unlikely that you're personally at fault for a wrong decision, and throwing that kind of personal accusation without firm elements is far fetched and illogical.

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Originally Posted by Abriael

I don't think so. I know so, as that's the standard division of roles for executives, producers and developers in basically every major gaming company.

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I know your attitude towards everything :P "It's my way or the highway" XD /trolling because like I said.. not looking for an argument.

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Originally Posted by Starlord

I know your attitude towards everything :P "It's my way or the highway" XD /trolling because like I said.. not looking for an argument.

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If I tell you that 1+2=3 it's not because of my attitude. It's because it actually equals 3.

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Originally Posted by Abriael

If I tell you that 1+2=3 it's not because of my attitude. It's because it actually equals 3.

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And you are right! /claps

I wonder if Abriael is one of those 'reverse-trolls'. Like, maybe he's going out of his way to make the FFXIV community look like stereotypical, rabid fanboys.

All of his posts so far have just been nonsensical, fanatic drivel and I always imagine that a neckbeard in a Final Fantasy VII t-shirt frothing at the mouth is behind them.

I absolutely despise people who present their opinions as fact, and offer no credentials whatsoever either.

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Originally Posted by ClausL

I wonder if Abriael is one of those 'reverse-trolls'. Like, maybe he's going out of his way to make the FFXIV community look like stereotypical, rabid fanboys.

All of his posts so far have just been nonsensical, fanatic drivel and I always imagine that a neckbeard in a Final Fantasy VII t-shirt frothing at the mouth is behind them.

I absolutely despise people who present their opinions as fact, and offer no credentials whatsoever either.

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I was only giving what I feel about the situation and leaving it at that, and I said it twice now that I'm not looking for an argument yet he continues to push for one. :/

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Originally Posted by ClausL

I wonder if Abriael is one of those 'reverse-trolls'. Like, maybe he's going out of his way to make the FFXIV community look like stereotypical, rabid fanboys.

All of his posts so far have just been nonsensical, fanatic drivel and I always imagine that a neckbeard in a Final Fantasy VII t-shirt frothing at the mouth is behind them.

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I'm afraid that completely dismantling your misguided "arguments" in a solid enough way that leaves you no other option than resorting to writing nothing more than petty personal attacks like the above has nothing to do with being "rabid fanboys", as much as you try to cop out by attempting to paint it so.

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Originally Posted by ClausL

I absolutely despise people who present their opinions as fact, and offer no credentials whatsoever either.

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You mean people that do exactly what you do?

Interesting. Do tell us more.

I post my opinions.

Your posts go like this... "I'm right, you're wrong. If you disagree with me, you're stupid and a troll".

Just get over yourself dude. It's obnoxious, and I'm frankly sick of reading your posts.

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Originally Posted by ClausL

I post my opinions.

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Why? It would seem that all Wada has managed to do is sully the Final Fantasy and Square Enix name.

Square Enix post-2006 is a sad joke.

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You need to review your way of posting "Opinions", because there's nothing in the sentence above that indicates that.

This, mind you, without counting the fact that "it's my opinion!" is nothing else than a cop out to try and avoid retorts. Opinions can very well be misguided and based on lack of knowledge of facts and topics, as yours in fact is.

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Just get over yourself dude. It's obnoxious, and I'm frankly sick of reading your posts.

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No one holds you at gunpoint to do that. You're the one that came to the thread I opened. No one pulled you by your sleeve to force you to come here and throw a personal accusation to someone without having any element to do so, and then start frothing at the mouth when your baseless accusation was countered, so you can only blame yourself.

No, but with over 3500 posts you're practically flooding the forum with the same crap over and over. You're really making us all look bad. You do know that right?

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Originally Posted by ClausL

No, but with over 3500 posts you're practically flooding the forum with the same crap over and over. You're really making us all look bad. You do know that right?

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Continuing with personal attacks does your "arguments" no service. In the meanwhile, your much easier to check 76 posts show nothing absolutely else than false "concern" FUD and personal attacks on whoever happened to cross your path.

I'm not the one that debuted in this forum arguing that they should do something commercially, financially, marketing-wise and image-wise suicidal like "scrapping the PS3 version" of the game, without even counting posts like this.

Honestly, you have no place to accuse anyone of anything, let alone of making anything look bad.

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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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.

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Luckily Square Enix seems to have no liquidity problems (otherwise they would be legally held to the responsibility of communicating it to their shareholders), so it's just a case of periodical lossess, not of "financial ruin".

They are a large company with equally large assets, so they have lot of leeway when posting losses, even sizable ones like the ones we're talking about. It's never a good thing, but it's hardly lethal.