Ben-DutkaA few days ago, we learned that the Square Enix Japan site had listed former CEO Yoichi Wada as "Chairman of the Board."
This news elicited all sorts of moaning and groaning because even though Wada stepped down when the company suffered "extraordinary losses," the Chairman role sounded like a promotion of sorts. In other words, he'd still be making all sorts of important decisions, and that's really not what old-school Square fans wanted to hear.
But thankfully, the publisher has clarified Wada's new role , saying that he no longer has any role in the parent company, Square Enix Holdings Co. Here's a statement concerning Wada's position:
"Yoichi Wada has left the management of Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd and no longer has any role in the parent company. Currently, he is overseeing a portion of the business within Square Enix Co., Ltd (Square Enix Tokyo), one of the subsidiaries of the parent company. These businesses include emerging markets as well as social and mobile businesses."
The statement finishes by saying that Wada "has no authority in terms of the management of the group." Well, that's that. If you've already forgotten, his replacement was former CFO Yosuke Matsuda. Cross your fingers that he does a better job in the future.
"In the interim, we plan to keep going ahead with his suicidal plans to make aimless action games out of formerly beloved RPG franchises."
If he as Chairman of the Board doesn't have any authority then what's he doing there?
Someone mentioned this could be a kind of honorary position common in Japanese business, seems like a sound theory. He may have been a complete failure, but they want to preserve his honor because he still worked hard (he just happened to work hard for a vision that nobody in the gaming community wanted).
its like taking of a train wreck.
That picture of him made me laugh for some reason. Its almost like his saying "I did not hit the Final Fantasy fans. Its not true. Its BS. I did nawt. Ohai bribes."
How does this guy still have a job?!
I'm surprised he hasn't been put on trial for crimes against humanity.
Being stupid isn't a crime, it's just unfortunate.
Lol, burn.
I had wanted to post this in the other thread, but I was too busy. Anyway, as pointed out here, this is nothing to be concerned about. Japan corporate culture has a phenomenon known as "punishment by promotion", where they technically promote you into a position that doesn't allow you to do jack. They don't just fire people because it's seen as being disloyal to the employee. Instead, they'll put you in a corner and wait for you to resign on your own.
td;dr: Wada may have inflicted untold damage in the past, which may yet persist for some time, but he will be unable to inflict any more. He's done.
no one is going to respect his authoritah
edit: did you know that Wada, before he joined Square to begin with. He did not know that Square was the maker of Final Fantasy?
Last edited by BlinkBoy on 6/28/2013 6:25:11 PM
🙁
there goes my celebration party!