Square Enix reveals plans to invest in rivals
Wada plans to take stakes in other businesses to combat increased competition
Square Enix's president, Yoichi Wada, has announced plans to invest in rival publishers and developers to combat rising competition from new and established companies, as reported by Reuters.
The Japanese company behind the Final Fantasy franchise wishes to follow the trend of other videogame makers which are in a period of increasing consolidation, such as recent mergers between Activision and Vivendi, and EA's attempted buyout of Take-Two.
"Economies of scale and breadth of scope is getting important. It may be a business alliance or it may be us taking a stake in others, but we need to go beyond traditional Square Enix," Wada said.
"We face competition not only from Japanese videogame companies but from game companies worldwide. We also see some new players from outside the videogame industry coming in," he said.