Yoichi Wada is stepping down as CEO of Square Enix

With the financial year closing in the coming week, Square Enix has stated that it anticipates an "extraordinary loss" as it puts into effect major restructuring of the company. With disappointing sales of console titles and the costs of making sweeping organisational changes, the company anticipates reporting a loss of around 10 billion Yen (roughly $106/£70 million) when the year ends on 31st March.

With such chastening results on the immediate horizon, it's been confirmed that CEO Yoichi Wada is resigning from his position, to be replaced by current representative director Yosuke Matsuda; he's the second major executive to step down in recent times alongside EA's John Riccitello.

So how does this affect Nintendo? Rather like the EA news, it'll be interesting to see how new management tackles support for Nintendo's systems. In recent times Square Enix has published titles such as Theatrhythm: Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance on 3DS, while a major release on Wii — and soon Wii U — in Japan has been Dragon Quest X. During that same period the company has been taking its iconic Final Fantasy franchise onto smartphone platforms, in various guises, while Theatrhythm has also been released on iOS.

As a major third-party in Japan, particularly, Nintendo will in all likelihood be watching the restructuring of Square Enix closely, and hoping that the business won't be taking steps away from its systems.

[source polygon.com]