Square Enix president Yosuke Matsuda offered up a new year’s letter with a brief breakdown of the company’s outlook for 2018. It’s filled with barely penetrable business-speak, but there are a few interesting details about what to expect from the company in the year to come.
For something a little more concrete, check out the biggest upcoming PC games.
In particular, Matsuda points to Japan’s improved rollout of 5G infrastructure ahead of the 2020 Olympic games as a reason to believe browser games might be making a comeback. “Since HTML5 already enables web browsers to display high-quality 3D on par with native apps, browsers may garner renewed attention as a gaming platform once 5G networks are in place.”
In general, the Square Enix boss looks to new tech as an opportunity for the company. The expansion of financial technologies also gives the company a better opportunity to reach developing markets outside of North America, Europe, Japan, and China. Matsuda further points to better development of AI and VR-adjacent technologies as places for the market to expand.
Smartphones are, of course, a central piece of the global game market, but Matsuda says the game console market has been solid and expects continued growth from the traditional side of the industry. He also expects the currently lukewarm console market in Japan to grow and join the overall trend.
Perhaps most interestingly, Matsuda says the company “saw results from our ongoing strategy of portfolio expansion as we were able to generate numerous hits with major and mid-sized titles” worldwide. That would seem to include titles as varied (and excellent) as Nier: Automata and Life is Strange: Before the Storm, so the strategy’s also been successful on the creative side.