.jpg?q=50&fit=crop&w=1100&h=550&dpr=1.5)
Square Enix President Yosuke Matsuda is preparing to step down from his position at the Japanese gaming giant, with his replacement already decided. The news of this management shakeup broke out not long after Matsuda penned his second NFT-focused New Year letter in a row, which was something that didn't sit well with many fans.
Matsuda, 59, has been at the helm of the Japanese publisher since June 2013, when he took over the company's reins from Yoichi Wada. Over that period, Square Enix's market cap grew by a factor of six, with the conglomerate currently being valued at the equivalent of nearly $5.5 billion. The industry veteran's continued interest in NFT technologies reflected positively on the company's stock price in recent years, even if it never led to an actual product, nor received acceptance from the fandom.
In a newly published investor brief dated March 3, Square Enix revealed that Matsuda intends to step down from his leadership role come summer 2023. The plan is for him to be replaced by Takashi Kiryu, one of the company's current directors. This C-suite shakeup will be discussed at Square Enix's 43rd annual shareholder meeting scheduled to take place across two sessions in May and June. Baring anything out of the ordinary, Kiryu is likely to be confirmed as Matsuda's successor during the board meeting taking place immediately after the second shareholder forum. While the transition date has yet to be scheduled, Square Enix's main shareholder meeting historically takes place in late June.
The Tokyo-based company attributed this impending managerial change to a general need for reshaping its leadership amid the ever-changing business environment. Looking at the bigger picture, the move might have been at least partially prompted by the fact that Square Enix's 2022 financials revealed declining sales across the board.
Kiryu, 48, joined Square Enix in mid-2020 as its chief strategy officer. Prior to that, he had two stints at Japanese advertising and PR powerhouse Dentsu, where he initially served as a director for four years before taking a brief hiatus to enroll in a prestigious MIT Sloan Fellows MBA Program at MIT in 2017. After completing his Master's in Business Administration, he returned to Dentsu in the capacity of a general manager the following year. According to a short employee biography attached to this newly emerged investor notice, Kiryu owns 1,471 shares in Square Enix, which places his personal stake in the conglomerate at around $66,000 as of March 2023.
It remains to be seen what kind of leadership changes Kiryu might implement come summer. On a more lighthearted note, there's always a chance that this C-suite shakeup results in another Final Fantasy boss battle with a Square Enix president, seeing how Matsuda already starred in one such set piece not long after taking charge of the Japanese company.