Square Enix has announced plans to replace the current president Yosuke Matsuda.
In a shareholder announcement today, Square Enix Holdings said it plans to replace Matsuda with relative Square Enix newcomer Takashi Kiryu, pending shareholder approval.
According to the invitation, approval will be sought at the annual general meeting to be held in June 2023.
If the change is approved, the board meeting will decide on the details.
Matsuda took over from previous Square Enix president Yoichi Wada in 2013, and in recent years has spoken about the company’s need to focus on blockchain games.
Based on Square Enix’s statement, it doesn’t look like those plans will change after Matsuda’s planned departure.
“With the rapid change in the business environment surrounding the entertainment industry, the proposed change is intended to change the management team with the aim of embracing constantly developing technological innovations and maximizing the group’s creativity and offering even better entertainment to its customers around the world,” it stated.
The proposed incoming president, 47-year-old Takashi Kiryu, joined Square Enix in June 2020 as head of its corporate planning division.
Before that, he served as CEO Dentsu Innovation InitiativeAn R&D organization focused on “pursuing new and disruptive technologies,” including blockchain and Web 3.0.
Matsuda said in a New Year’s letter outlining the company’s plan for 2023 Blockchain remains the biggest focus Square Enix’s mid-term investments despite what he called “volatility” in the blockchain space in 2022.
Matsuda argued that lessons learned and likely future regulation could benefit the growth of the blockchain field and its plans to develop games based on the technology.
Square Enix was one of the first major publishers to announce support for “blockchain entertainment,” which uses a digital ledger that allows users to effectively own, buy, and sell digital items.
The company has several blockchain games based on original IPs in development, some of which have already been announced and some of which are scheduled to be shown this year.
“Blockchain has been the subject of excitement and the source of turmoil, but in the rearview mirror, we hope blockchain gaming will enter a new phase of growth in 2023,” Matsuda wrote.
