Square Enix Sacks 10% of Workforce
- Categories: Games, News
- Date: Nov 6, 2009 04:18 JST
- Tags: Business, Dragon Quest, Final Fantasy, Marketing, PS3, Square Enix, Xbox 360
Square Enix has officially announced long rumoured massive cuts to its workforce, with the company set to sack 10% of its employees in a move it insists is not “restructuring” but is instead an act of “organizational invigoration.”
The move was announced at the recent shareholders’ assembly by CEO Yōichi Wada, and will see the company shedding 10% of its 3,805 employees:
“Our management strength has been weakened through repeated mergers, and the kind of inefficiency typical of large enterprises has set in. We intend to reduce our organisation’s size to improve coordination.
This is not a restructuring, but done for the sake of organizational invigoration.”
It will be interesting to see whether this latest new euphemism for sacking unwanted employees will stick…
Square Enix is actually enjoying quite favourable performance, with sales up 33.2% on a year earlier, and operating profits up 39.3%, indicating the move, severe as it is, is by no means a desperate one, particularly with the imminent release of Final Fantasy XIII.
In other news Wada also insists Final Fantasy XIII will be the best selling Final Fantasy title since Final Fantasy X, saying Europe and America are the “fertile lands” the company is aiming for…
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"Final Fantasy XIII will be the best selling Final Fantasy title since Final Fantasy X"
Well, yeah. They better make it better than XII.
I'm sure these cutbacks wouldn't affect the higher ups at all. They can continue to enjoy their luxuries.
Isn't this good news? Excess programmers are not productive we are assuming the worst too early.
I sense and upcoming decline in the quality of games from them. One could hope thier reasoning was legitimate, but it seems more like they want to boost pocket money for execs....
What happened, Squeenix? You used to be cool... but now you've started killing off fanmade tributes of your games(*cough* Crimson Echoes *cough*), appealed to idiots with stuff like Star Ocean 4 and Infinite Undiscovery, and now THIS!
Hey Star Ocean is cool. Now, Infinite Undiscovery, THAT'S a different story. You can tell the suckiness just by looking at it's title.
Yeah they killed the fan tribute to Crono Trigger when it was 98% done if that wasn't an asshole move i don't know what is.
You are kidding yourself if you think it was anywhere near 98% done.
How do you fire 380.5 people?
I assume that some chainsaws are in use to reach the 380.5 quota.
Either that, or they outsource certain projects to the Chinese Dwarves.
they had it comin
they had it comin
they only had themselves to blame
Why "Xbox 360" in the tags?
Artefact you like provocation don't u??!1! !?
I'm guessing it's because Final Fantasy XIII is a multiplatform title (PS3 & 360)
And nothing of value was lost
Does anyone know why everyone in FF XIII has the exact same run animation? I was watching them run it looks like a 100m dash at the special olympics.
They bought and merged with alot of companies. First there was Enix, then Taito, then Edios and I think one other thats quite a bit downsizing is expected.
Boy does that Wada guy look stupid now. XIII is probly going to be the worst selling, EVER !
Wada moron.
"Saying Europe and America are the “fertile lands” the company is aiming for…"
No shit? Europe is always the fifth wheel in video game market, so why bother?
Corporate management, the commissar way. Hopefully the remainder would finally make something that doesn't play like a graphic upgrade of ancient Wizardry games.
Where the fuck is my Drakengard 3!? 2's Nowe sucked big dick. How about a real Parasite Eve sequel? Or a sequel worthy of the original Musashiden!!! The PS2 sequel was disappointment in a box. A new Bushido Blade maybe? How's about a FF Tactics game on a real home console FUCK WII's shit graphics. Give me something!!! I'm looking forward to XIII and Versus XIII but seriously whoever thought up Sazh and that whiny little faggot with silver should be in that 10% BTW I mean conception of character not the designer (I like Nomura)
It can't be anyone else's fault other than Nomura himself if that's what you're complaining now. It's what these people call 'style'. Different artists have different takes, and Nomura just happen to have that kind of take.
In any case, I'm not crying for Nomura's blood, but I think there are better designers in Square-Enix.
The look of the material at the bottom of her shirt reminds me of a bra.
Gotta love the official terminology companies are making up nowadays.
JUST noticed. Are her eyes colored differently (blue and grey)? If so, Square's starting to have a thing for heterochromia.
Nah. Both are blue.
I hope Square-Enix diee a painful death. They have been the main force in turning video games into interactive movies, and they are leading the "screw those customers" way of selling you the same game twice with DLC and milking their franchises (CT, anyone ?).
What was the last good original SE game ?
Square Enix alongside Electronic Arts, you mean. Leading the "screw our customers" strategy.
If it's Square I may now some, but if you ask about SE then I don't. But I must admit SE's female characters have great fapping valuable however.
Never knew that girl from Bible Black would be a major character in Final Fantasy XIII.
LOL it never came to my mind!
i knew she lookd familiar!
I See it now....man fuck you =D
can't wait for Final Fantasy XIV
with Mizushima, Asa & Sorayama, Natsume as lead characters :3
Final Fantasy XIV is an MMORPG.
even better! we get to see Tony Taka's characters on an MMORPG
Oh well Nintendo making money from there games.
lol - organizational invigoration - try selling that to the people you just put on the street...
i'd like to sack her if you know what i mean
And I've been telling you guys, we need anime version of Dutch wives. Problem solved
I see what you did there Anon...
Lol who wouldn't?
I wouldn't. I don't want to wake up in a hospital with bits of LCD screen stuck in my dick.
Well if she was "real" you know. Seriously who would fuck a screen?
That's not fucking the screen, that's fucking the fleshlite attached to the screen
You?
http://www.sankakucomplex.com/2009/10/17/lcd-hime-mkii/
You needz more Sankaku reading.
you mean like sex right, tee-hee.
“organizational invigoration” nice use of words heh
Double speak.
Missiles for free means we launch it at you at no monetary cost to you.
A brilliantly concocted term indeed. Ah, white collar talks...
yay sack the programmers keep the suits.. wtf
Sounds more like it's the other way around to me. If you want to increase efficiency the first to go are middle management.
no actually your both wrong, the first to go are generally testers or newer staff while they keep the more experienced people
Well based on the article given above, it seems like staff who do not originally belong to Square Enix will get the sack first.
Well it varies from company to company, but in most cases it's always the high salary/low producing staff that gets the sack.
But those who have been there longer are entitles to longer notice periods and more redundancy money so its usually the new starters who are the first to go since they are the quickest and easiest to get rid of.
In my experience working in the software industry the other Anon is correct. Those who have put in the most time and make the most money get flayed off first. Those who are "newbs" who have skill and competence get a higher workload. Usually with no additional training. And no additional compensation.
Also in my experience the "old school" guys get sent off BEFORE the announcement of layoffs. That way they cant taint the workforce with the cynical point of view they will have if they know its coming. If not before, they are ninja-ed on the sidelines and out of line of sight on a friday if the plan calls for multiple weeks/months of layoffs.
ACTUALLY, you got it reversed, backwards, and upsidedown...whatever that means...
Normally the more experienced get laid off first because they've been with the company longer and thus make more money. New people being hired, especially in highly technical fields, have educations and degrees that would put them on par with those of higher experience, and since they're new they get paid less.
If two people can bring the same results, why not keep the one who will work for less? At least that's how the Suits normally see things.
"Organizational invigoration"?
"If you don't want to be part of that ten percent then work harder!"
I was part of a similar situation. Hewlett-Packard likes Costa Rica instead of Canada.
Well, Employment Insurance means I get a year off while being payed in full. YEEEEAH!
Why can't anyone online ever spell the word 'paid' correctly?
Who cares about "paid". What really grinds my gears are those idiots who spelled "they're" as "there". OMFG you have no idea how common that is in forums.
You mean "reDONKculous."
Witty, eh?
I'm eating a sandwich.
rEdiculous.
they're, there and THEIR
its the most mispelled word ever.
I'd like to throw their in the mix to. Not to mention the constant you're/your mix-ups
You contradict yourself.
I feel your pain...
of course you mean payen
that IS the way to spell it... +1.... Pay, paid, paided... (jk xD)
But that's how you spell it o.O
Well as long as they fire the inefficient workers
Man they took 3 to 4 years or so to make this game, Final Fantasy XV will probably come out next gen :(
yeah seriously...and now that they're getting rid of another 100's of employees, i dont see how they could possibly do things any quicker...
damn it Square sure loves to take its sweet time...
How about they drop the Enix staff, the company got worse as soon as they picked them up.
Just sack the guys who support the idea putting Mickey and the like into a Japanese game, anyway I'm neither their fan boy or their employee so I could careless about what are they doing.
Disney?
Squaresoft fanboy alert
It's not fanboyism. Ever since the company became Square Enix, they have been excessively milking their IPs. 90% op the IPs that get milked were originally Squaresoft's.
they milk the final fantasy IP because the consumer still gobbles that shit up...
True eventhough most of the games they milk are the final fantasy games. Overall it seems that really don't give a shit about the other titles they made in the past. Most of Enix's games are bastardized or just forgotten.
"they milk the final fantasy IP because the consumer still gobbles that shit up..."
Wise anon FTW.
Dragon quest fwd
I think it should be the other way around.Since it was Enix that bought Squaresoft, so it was Enix that picked up the Squaresoft staff.
I feel bad for the bulk of SE's fired personnel.
I also hope the artist who created the image ("Serah Farron") used to head this article, as well as the editors who approved it, are in the 10% fired!
The image is fail. Her right leg is significantly longer than her left, and her right knee looks 'wrong'.
If it's _intentionally_ part of her character design for her to have suffered physical or mutatory damage to her legs, then I withdraw the criticism and apologize.
Actually its a 3d model. Her right leg is in front of the left. Thus closer to your eye and appears larger. The lack of background or shadow is what threw you off.
Nitpicking on the knee is just nitpicking. Feel free.
You are fucking right.
This is something wrong with her legs and feets.
Ugh my eyes hurt when i looking on her.
It looks perfect to me. Perhaps you should observe her body position. With her leaning like that one leg starts lower than the other.
what do you expect from a character based off a bible black character?
I see what you there.
@Anonymous 09:42:
"Bad End!"
I, for one, would expect her to be a C cup and grow a dick.
... what?
Good legs, pretty face and nice boobs?
I know I expect too much.
i dunno, a hot chick with a nice rack who likes being gang-banged, and is to be sacrificed upon an alter?
So in other words, if she WAS physically deformed, it'd be easier to sacrifice/capture/gangbang her!
It looks more like the one who made her face and the one who made the rest of her body are two different people.
Something about her face looks weird to me. She's cute and all but...that cg render just looks weird...the face I mean...
Just 90% left to go...
gee, I wonder if those employees will feel any better being told: "we're not firing you, this is only for the sake of organizational invigoration!"
my bet is no >.>
"If it's for the sake of my company...!"
Your company no longer.
"Still in my heart...!"
"I'm going to Rebellion. They've got Aliens and Predators. Bye Square!"