News

Square Enix braces for layoffs in US and Europe

IT, publishing and Square Enix Collective teams set to be hit by redundancies

Square Enix braces for layoffs in US and Europe

Square Enix is set to lay off staff across its offices in the US and Europe as part of its wider restructuring plans.

As reported by Video Games Chronicle, citing people who were in attendance at an internal meeting, the publisher’s president Takashi Kiryu warned staff on Monday of imminent job losses. Employees will be informed whether they are affected this week.

Teams impacted are set to include publishing, IT and Square Enix Collective.

New strategy

Today the company set out a new ‘medium-term business plan’ to investors that aims to reinvigorate the company’s growth. As part of that strategy, it said it would “rebuild overseas business divisions from the ground up”.

That included “optimising costs” at its European and American offices via structural reforms, and bringing the structure of these divisions in line with the new organisation in Japan.

Square Enix reported net sales of ¥356.3 billion ($2.28 billion) for the fiscal year ending March 31st, 2024, a rise of 3.8% Y/Y.

However, profits fell by 69.7% Y/Y to ¥14.9 billion ($95.4 million). The publisher had previously warned of “extraordinary losses” in April due to cancelled projects, which cost the company ¥22.1 billion ($140.3 million).


Tags:
Head of Content

Craig Chapple is a freelance analyst, consultant and writer with specialist knowledge of the games industry. He has previously served as Senior Editor at PocketGamer.biz, as well as holding roles at Sensor Tower, Nintendo and Develop.