Square Enix plans to lay off employees in Europe and the United States as part of a major corporate restructuring announced in May 2024. The news was reportedly announced at an internal staff meeting, where Square Enix boss Takashi Kiryu detailed the planned job cuts in the publishing industry. IT, and Square Enix's indie game division.
This follows the release of a new comprehensive business plan designed to strengthen Square Enix and its AAA game production. Within this plan, the company has confirmed that it will pursue a new three-year strategy aimed at long-term growth, including releasing multi-platform games and more guaranteed game hits. As part of this new strategy, Square Enix has already canceled various games in development.
In early May 2024, the company reported 22.1 billion yen in “content abandonment losses” related to canceled games. The decision to remove the title was made after “a thorough review of the group's development pipeline. [a new] I have revised my approach. ” Going forward, Square Enix will likely be more selective about its games and how they are released.
Although unconfirmed, early speculation suggests that Square Enix's new edict will lead to final fantasy 7 The remake series is coming to Xbox and PC as the first release. final fantasy 7 reverse It is reported to be overwhelming.
read: Square Enix reports “content abandonment loss” of 22.1 billion yen
Square Enix's new business plan appears to be a response to the severe economic downturn and a reported 70% decline in the company's annual profits (taking into account the aforementioned extraordinary losses). Looking ahead, the company aims to rebuild, but this appears to come at a cost to its hard-working staff.
Square Enix has not confirmed the number of staff who will lose their jobs in the coming weeks, but it appears the announced layoffs will be significant. Those affected will be informed this week and all related legal proceedings will be initiated shortly. In the UK, there is a standard one month consultation period before an employee can be made redundant. In the US, staff could be laid off even sooner.
Further changes may impact Square Enix in the coming months, but it's unclear how public these decisions will be. The scope of the planned changes under his new three-year strategy for the company is immense and could change the shape of Square Enix as we currently know it.
As always in situations like this, our thoughts are with the employees who will be affected by the layoffs.
