Square Enix: Global headcount reduction around 10%

Square Enix global president, Yoichi Wada, has revealed to GamesIndustry.biz that the company has now reduced its headcount globally by about 10 per cent as a result of ongoing business reshuffling.

That number takes in staff from Square Enix, Taito and Eidos properties, and according to Wada-san isn't just a result of the acquisition of the Tomb Raider publisher earlier this year.

"There's an ongoing process of reshuffling people, but that's not something we do just because of integration," he explained in an exclusive interview. "As an ongoing process that's taking place all across the organisation looking at all of our foot prints - Square Enix Tokyo, Taito and ex-Eidos offices, have seen about 10 per cent reduction of headcount globally."

In terms of the integration between the Square Enix and Eidos business, he was pleased with the progress that has been made.

"Well, it's been 119 days since the integration, and the process has been very smooth. The organisational integration is almost fully complete," he said. "Just last week we had a Town Hall meeting of all the employees here [in Wimbledon] so that I could congratulate them on the integration and their hard work going forward.

"So, as an organisation we've completed integration and we want to work harder on the exchanges between the studios - in fact, this has already been happening.

Those exchanges, he explained, were both cultural and technological in nature, going on to add that the company would look to maintain its internal variety, and that "having a single cultural identity would be, I think, the wrong path to pursue."

The first part of the interview with Yoichi Wada is available on GamesIndustry.biz now.