Rumor: Square Enix’s Yoichi Wada putting his foot down

Square Enix, that blessed company that brought us the Final Fantasy franchise, may be having an internal dispute. Rumor has it that big boss Yoichi Wada is threatening to axe employees if they don’t start becoming more mainstream with their games. Story in the full article.

There’s no doubt that Square Enix has some of the best selling games in the history of gaming. The Final Fantasy franchise alone is a testament to this.

However, as Square Enix’s games become more and more sophisticated, are their games becoming less and less part of the mainstream? Are their games beginning to cater only to the tastes of a certain portion of the gaming population?

According to rumors, these questions are currently haunting the company. It goes that the company held a heated meeting over a month ago, after their 2007 financial statement indicated that they are leaking cash.

Big boss Yoichi Wada supposedly put his foot down, threatening to axe employees if they didn’t, according to Kotaku’s paraphrase, “stop making games that only they wanted to play.” Aw, but we want to play the games they want to play.

Personal attachments to their franchises aside though (updates on Kingdom Hearts 3 please, Squeenix!), and keeping in mind that Wada’s outburst could indeed just be rumor, but it’s still an intriguing notion to ask: is Square Enix starting to deviate from the mainstream?

Via Kotaku