Yosuke Matsuda: Last News

Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda shared that the money raised by selling many of its western properties last year will be used to “foster solid IP” rather than invest in NFTs and blockchain technology.Back in May, Square Enix announced a deal with Embracer Group to sell some of the company’s biggest western titles, including Tomb Raider, Deux Ex, and Thief. Several studios – including Crystal Dynamics – were also included in the sale.At the time the company shared that the sales would help invest in “blockchain, AI, and the cloud“, however, Square Enix has seemingly decided against this.In a financial results briefing, Matsuda shared that “rather than using the proceeds from the divestiture in new investment domains such as NFT and blockchain, we intend to use them primarily to fund our efforts to foster solid IP and to enhance our development capabilities in our core digital entertainment segment.”Matsuda added that Square Enix will raise funds for “new investment domains” separately from the company’s “core business” to do so, and revealed that “the Just Cause franchise will remain our IP, and we are at work developing a new title in the franchise.”Over the last year, Matsuda has been a vocal supporter of blockchain technology, despite criticism from fans.

Square Enix has revealed that its recent AAA title, Forspoken, has underperformed financially since its release in January.In a financial presentation, Square Enix revealed that while reviews for the game “have been challenging”, it has also received “positive feedback on its action features”, highlighting its parkour and combat mechanics. “That said, its sales have been lackluster,” Yosuke Matsuda said as part of his presentation.Matsuda added: “While the performance of new titles with February and March release dates will be the ultimate determinant, we see considerable downside risk to our FY2023/3 earnings.”He continued, telling investors: “Last year, I stated that we were designating FY2023/3 as a year in which to lay the foundations that will enable us to achieve our medium-term objectives, but that we nonetheless intended to pursue YoY growth in sales and profits.

Square Enix has revealed that Neo: The World Ends With You “underperformed” the company’s expectations for the game.Speaking in the first-half results briefing for 2022-2023 (thanks, VGC), Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda revealed that “while Neo: The World Ends With You was received well by users, it has underperformed our initial expectations”.Despite that, Matsuda said that Square Enix hopes both Neo: The World Ends With You and Life Is Strange: True Colors, which was also released earlier in 2022, “continue to sell well over the long term”.The disappointing sales may surprise some, especially considering the praise it received at launch.

Square Enix, the decision to launch Outriders with day-one availability on Xbox Game Pass has paid off by creating a larger established player base.Speaking during the company’s full year financial results briefing, Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda believes making Outriders available from day one on the Xbox service Game Pass was the right choice to make.When asked about the response to Outriders, Matsuda states that Square Enix has been “pleasantly surprised” by the digital sales ratio for the title, noting that the “the number of active users has also beaten our expectations”.“We believe that our decision to make “Outriders” available with Microsoft’s Xbox Game Pass as soon as the title launched also worked in our favor.

Square Enix has revealed that it has yet to recoup the development costs for Marvel’s Avengers, helmed by Crystal Dynamics.This is according to Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda, who spoke about the game at a recent financial briefing. “The HD Games sub-segment posted an operating loss as initial sales of Marvel’s Avengers were lower than we had expected and unable to completely offset the amortization of the game’s development costs,” he said.However, the company still has hope that the game will eventually turn a profit through the release of forthcoming DLCs, such as the previously announced Kate Bishop pack.