Square Enix president Takashi Kiryu informed employees about the upcoming layoffs in an internal meeting on Monday, May 14 (thanks VGC for first coverage<\/a>). While we don\u2019t yet know the scale of this planned layoff, the staff were told people working in publishing, IT, and Square Enix\u2019s Collective indie games division will be most affected. Any impacted employees will be individually informed later this week, VGC suggested. However, many of Square\u2019s main Slack channels were reportedly locked after the internal meeting.<\/p>
Square Enix earlier indicated its planned company-wide restructuring<\/a> following a significant drop in its estimated profit. However, it\u2019s only now we are seeing it in action. Dot Esports had reported earlier today about the company\u2019s multiplatform pivot for its AAA games<\/a> as part of its medium-term business plan dubbed \u2018Square Enix reboots and awakens.\u2019<\/p>
With the stated goal of \u201clong-term growth,\u201d Square Enix is banking on this three-year strategy to pull itself out of its poor fiscal performance. As explained in the report, Square is set to bring their upcoming AAA games to multiple platforms as opposed to their erstwhile PlayStation-centric approach. The three recent entries to the company\u2019s flagship Final Fantasy<\/em><\/a> series\u2014Final Fantasy 7 Remake<\/em>, Final Fantasy 16<\/em>, and Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth<\/em>\u2014launched as timed exclusives on Sony\u2019s console. Additionally, Square wants to move away from overreliance on external developers and bring \u201cbring more capabilities in-house.\u201d<\/p>
