Wada takes a pay cut - Blu-ray Forum

dereksworl · 03-09-2009, 05:09 PM

He still ain't getting back on my good side!

Quote:

Square-Enix Directors Take Voluntary 15% Pay Cut

When Squaresoft was in its prime during the PlayStation days (oh, just accept it, Nintendo fans), there was no more respected developer as far as Sony followers were concerned. These days, Square-Enix has difficulty getting on the good side of any PlayStation 3 owner, but as a citizen of the world, perhaps they'll get some respect for this...

Financial forecasts suck and stocks just keep falling; even the supposedly recession-proof video game industry is experiencing the backlash of a troubled economy. A lot of big corporations want to try to save money by cutting salaries that aren't their own, but Square-Enix is taking a more noble approach: according to Kotaku, president Yoichi Wada explained how he will take a voluntary 15% price cut, along with the other two directors of the company:

"In recognition of the latest results, we're cutting the remuneration of three executive directors by 15 percent. The three directors are myself, our Vice-President Keiji Honda, and Director and Chief Financial Officer Yosuke Matsuda. This reduction is for an indefinite period. In the meantime, we intend to stand up straight and push ahead with reforms."

Now, one could be pessimistic and say, "well, it's not like any of these guys will be in bread lines any time soon," but perhaps it's better to realize that 15% is significant when you make that much money. And besides, the gesture should be appreciated, even if those hit hard by these trying times may not be so impressed. Either way, it's something that more head honchos ought to do, and at the very least, it's a nod of recognition towards the bad economy.

Linky
Linky2

AikonEnt · 03-09-2009, 05:22 PM

-15% pay + M$ backhanders still = win for Wada

Just get rid of him altogether then the PS3 community will be happier (as long as he gets replaced by a PS3 person obviously).

Septimus Prime · 03-09-2009, 05:30 PM

You know, the company I work for was more profitable last year than it was the year before, despite the recession. Maybe it's because we didn't make ridiculous and stupid exclusivity agreements.

Terjyn · 03-09-2009, 05:34 PM

I wish I was a bug on the wall during the discussions about Star Ocean sales.

Cyorg · 03-09-2009, 05:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terjyn

I wish I was a bug on the wall during the discussions about Star Ocean sales.

Yeah, me too.

dereksworl · 03-09-2009, 06:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Terjyn

I wish I was a bug on the wall during the discussions about Star Ocean sales.

I coudn't believe this was a 360 exclusive when i first saw it. Could not fathom the reasoning. there are some, but the percentage of RPG player on 360 is like what, less than half maybe? How are the SO sales doing anyway? horrible i hope

galperi1 · 03-09-2009, 06:37 PM

They deserve all they get. Look at how well WKC sold despite being an unproven franchise in Japan. Had they released IU, Last Remnant, and SO4 for the PS3 at the same time they could have tripled/quadrupled sales.

Now those will never sell as well as they could have if they are ever ported and released.

Hopefully the next step is the board removing him for not trying to maximize shareholders profit.

Terjyn · 03-09-2009, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dereksworl

I coudn't believe this was a 360 exclusive when i first saw it. Could not fathom the reasoning. there are some, but the percentage of RPG player on 360 is like what, less than half maybe? How are the SO sales doing anyway? horrible i hope

They sold ~160,000 in the first week for SO and ~12,000 in the second week. For a Square-Enix game, released in Japan, those sales are terrible. Compare it to Yakuza released the following week, which sold 360,000 or so in its first week.

Note: Numbers are from memory, so are not perfect, but are somewhere in the neighborhood.

Maximus · 03-09-2009, 06:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Septimus Prime

You know, the company I work for was more profitable last year than it was the year before, despite the recession. Maybe it's because we didn't make ridiculous and stupid exclusivity agreements.

Ahh, but you guys also make decent titles!

S-E haven't made a decent game since FFX-2, TWEWY was OK, but otherwise it was just DS/PSP remakes and whoring FFVII with Dirge of Cerberus and CC:FFVII (which was alright, but not great). I want Dissidia, but the localisation will take ages.

Septimus Prime · 03-09-2009, 06:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Maxpower1987

Ahh, but you guys also make decent titles!

S-E haven't made a decent game since FFX-2, TWEWY was OK, but otherwise it was just DS/PSP remakes and whoring FFVII with Dirge of Cerberus and CC:FFVII (which was alright, but not great). I want Dissidia, but the localisation will take ages.

I do have some friends at S-E, though, so I don't really want them to fail and am glad Wada stepped up and handled things the right way this time. I just also hope they recognize why they're in the hole now.

reiella · 03-11-2009, 01:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Septimus Prime

I do have some friends at S-E, though, so I don't really want them to fail and am glad Wada stepped up and handled things the right way this time. I just also hope they recognize why they're in the hole now.

From the looks of things it's alot of over-investing/over-engineering of their flagship title.

They also burned alot of customer good will a while back with Dirge and the big selling of 'mediocre' titles.

Could always be worse though.

The Bouncer.

Marine Mike · 03-09-2009, 06:50 PM

I don't really care that he took a pay cut.

View Poll Results: What do you think of this self-imposed pay cut?
I think it's pretty cool of him to do that.	11	26.19%
pshh, He needs to take a bigger pay cut than 15%	2	4.76%
Pay cut?! Just replace him already!!!	29	69.05%
Voters: 42. You may not vote on this poll

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03-09-2009, 05:22 PM	#2
AikonEnt Blu-ray Guru Member since:Oct 2007 Location:Crawley, UK Blu-ray collection:246	-15% pay + M$ backhanders still = win for Wada Just get rid of him altogether then the PS3 community will be happier (as long as he gets replaced by a PS3 person obviously).

03-09-2009, 05:30 PM	#3
Septimus Prime Blu-ray Samurai Member since:Jan 2008 Blu-ray collection:164 Trading Score:2	You know, the company I work for was more profitable last year than it was the year before, despite the recession. Maybe it's because we didn't make ridiculous and stupid exclusivity agreements.

03-09-2009, 05:34 PM	#4
Terjyn Blu-ray Knight Member since:Jul 2007 Blu-ray collection:122	I wish I was a bug on the wall during the discussions about Star Ocean sales.

03-09-2009, 06:37 PM	#7
galperi1 Active Member Member since:Oct 2007	They deserve all they get. Look at how well WKC sold despite being an unproven franchise in Japan. Had they released IU, Last Remnant, and SO4 for the PS3 at the same time they could have tripled/quadrupled sales. Now those will never sell as well as they could have if they are ever ported and released. Hopefully the next step is the board removing him for not trying to maximize shareholders profit.

03-09-2009, 06:50 PM	#12
Marine Mike The Busey Member since:Apr 2008 Location:Ohio Home Theater Gallery:10 Blu-ray collection:120 Blu-ray reviews:4 Trading Score:4	I don't really care that he took a pay cut.

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