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Yosuke Matsuda stepping down as President of Square Enix

Takashi Kiryu will take over as the new Square Enix President, pending shareholder approval.
Ozzie Mejia
Ozzie Mejia
Square Enix
8

There's been a major shakeup at Square Enix. On Friday morning in Japan (late Thursday evening in North America), Square Enix issued a statement noting that Yosuke Matsuda will no longer serve as the company's president and appears to be exiting the company entirely. Takashi Kiryu will act as the new President of Square Enix, pending shareholder approval.

"Under the rapid change of business environment surrounding the entertainment industry, the proposed change is intended to reshape the management team with the goal of adopting everevolving technological innovations and maximizing on the creativity of the Company’s group in order to deliver even greater entertainment to its customers around the world," reads the statement from Square Enix.

Square Enix has had some highs, but many more lows over the last few years with Matsuda at the company's helm. Under his leadership, the company sold a majority of Square's western studios and oversaw the release of several titles that underperformed in terms of consumer reception and sales. Earlier this week, Square Enix announced that it would absorb Luminous Productions following the release of critically panned Forspoken.

Matsuda also led Square Enix's push into blockchain investment. Even with the NFT craze seemingly dying down and plunging in value, he remained steadfast in taking Square Enix in this direction. As recently as January, Matsuda reaffirmed his commitment to driving Square Enix towards NFTs and blockchain technology. The reason for Matsuda's exit (or whether it was voluntary or not) is unknown, but his commitment to NFTs likely has something to do with Thursday's statement from the Square Enix board.

Square Enix Director Takashi Kiryu
Takashi Kiryu will serve as new President of Square Enix, pending approval.
Source: Square Enix

Matsuda will be succeeded by Director Takashi Kiryu, who has been with Square Enix since 2020. The 48-year-old Kiryu previously worked as the company's Chief Strategy Officer and Executive Officer, briefly served as Chairman of the Board in Square Enix's China branch, and was promoted to Director of Square Enix in May 2022.

Kiryu is expected to take over for Matsuda once the move is approved by the Square Enix shareholders. The shareholder meeting is currently set for June 2023. There's more to this story and we'll continue to follow what happens. Keep it on Shacknews for the latest updates.

Senior Editor
Senior Editor

Ozzie has been playing video games since picking up his first NES controller at age 5. He has been into games ever since, only briefly stepping away during his college years. But he was pulled back in after spending years in QA circles for both THQ and Activision, mostly spending time helping to push forward the Guitar Hero series at its peak. Ozzie has become a big fan of platformers, puzzle games, shooters, and RPGs, just to name a few genres, but he’s also a huge sucker for anything with a good, compelling narrative behind it. Because what are video games if you can't enjoy a good story with a fresh Cherry Coke?

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