Square-Enix’s president on international development

Remember the interview where Michihiro Sasaki, a senior vice president from Square-Enix, said “only 10 to 20 per cent of Square Enix's revenues came from overseas markets”?  Square-Enix sent over a statement from Yoichi Wada clarifying their global plans.

“It is crucial for us to expand our businesses on a global basis,” said Yoichi Wada, President and Representative Director, SQUARE ENIX CO., LTD. “At this point, our revenue from sales of games for console and handheld devices in overseas markets such as North America, the PAL territories and Asia accounts for about 50% of the total revenue in this segment. Given the fact that the size of overseas markets is now more than three times as large as the domestic market, we recognize numerous growth opportunities. Our strategy to seize such opportunities is two-fold; (i) strengthen our own distribution channels developed by our local subsidiaries in these geographic areas, and (ii) diversify our content in accordance with user preferences in each area. Through these strategic initiatives, our initial goal within a time frame of three to five years is to raise our foreign sales ratio for console/handheld games from its current 50% level to approximately 75%. We shall continue our effort to better serve overseas markets.”

Hmm… overseas market provides 50% of Square-Enix’s revenue? That’s quite different from the other statement. I’ll leave that detail aside because the driving point is Square-Enix is getting ready to shift their content for the Western market.