If you were lucky enough to experience even a single blissful summer playing Final Fantasy before the weight of the world began to bear down on you inexorably, you'd know it can be a beautiful, all-consuming thing. You aren't alone either; Square Enix's freshly minted top executive, Takashi Kiryu, would also regularly no-life RPGs to the detriment of friends, school, and exercise, thus proving his hardcore gaming credentials.
Speaking ahead of the Final Fantasy XVI event in Los Angeles, Kiryu spoke of his destiny to lead the legendary RPG factory, stating: "While my friends got into sports or other activities, I was focused on games. And yeah, I had more than a few teachers tell me, 'If you play games all the time, you are not going to succeed in life. But, [they'd] be very surprised to see me standing on this stage right now with you."
Kiryu took on the big job in 2022 and had big Main Character Energy when declaring his intent as chief executive: "As the new CEO of Square Enix, I will continue to cherish those childhood memories that instilled in me a gamer's spirit."
Did you like Kiryu, ghost family in friends in favour of the latest Final Fantasy growing up? Let us know if you have what it takes to someday lead Square Enix in the comments section below.
[source youtube.com, via gamesradar.com]
Comments 35
I haven't really played a single FF game. I did try demo from a disk on PS2 15 years ago.
He was very fun to watch on stage and talking about his love for games like Dragon Quest. Then he introduced Jim Ryan
Don't care. He's the NFT guy. He's the main proponent for that block chain BS in the company. If you thought that trash would go out with Matsuda, Kiryu is the guy that planted all the NFT seeds in the first place.
Good to see some young blood!
He kind of let himself down as being one of us when he actually made something of his life and became a CEO. Real gamers, such as myself, refused to become CEOs even though we could have and chose to argue about RPG battle systems on PlayStation sites. I think I made the right choice.
@Cordyceps he is not the NFT guy, he replaced the NFT guy. It is yet to be seen how he thinks about NFT
@tatsumi Maybe read his resume and do some reading outside of this website buddy
Interesting thought that many of those moving into more senior positions at these gaming companies will have grown up playing a playstation and will have a sense of nostalgia for the brand which formally may have sat with nintendo systems. Wonder how that will influence business approaches going forward.
Anyway, great speech, assuming he is being sincere. Its good to hear that those in charge will understand what made gamers fall in love with iconic ip in the first place.
@Cordyceps then you have access to information I just can’t find. No matter how much I search, I can’t find any connection between him liking NFTs. So where are the links to your sources?
I booted up the demo last night but my mind was on other things. I need to try again tonight. The cut scenes looked cool but I've no idea what's going on.
Great, I hope he can lead squareenix to a more glorious era like in squaresoft days
And give us nier automata 2 with platinum as devs and yoko taro handling its story.
@tatsumi here's one
https://www.mmobomb.com/news/square-enix-plans-to-replace-president-yosuke-matsuda
Simple googling.
Also interesting is how he rocketed to the top of the company in only about two years.
Hopefully he's also smart enough to watch what Falcom does. They're in it for the long run with storytelling that spans multiple games across decades and everything is connected. Can't get enough of it.
Kyriu-san left the Yakuza/Like a Dragon to lead a branch of Square/Enix. Just another side-activity of Like a Dragon 8 hahaha
While I’m cautiously optimistic, can anyone link me an actual comment by Kiryu that is anything remotely close to what Matsuda was when it comes to NFTs? Like, I can’t find anything to back up that claim and while it’s Kiryu’s job to support the (previous) CEO I really do hope he doesn’t keep pushing NFTs.
Come-on tell us when is the merger with Sony going to happen!!!!
@Vivisapprentice he's like 50 years old
Need to remake a Final Fantasy: Mystic Quest game.
@Powerplay94 Yeah sure, and correct me if I'm wrong, but squeenix has a track record of canceling most of their live service / NFTs within a year.
A year is the Longshot guesstimate for SE GaaS ventures.
As for NFTs, They had to hype symbiogenesis with some gaslighting a la parasite eve, and that project was basically DOA. No one talks about it.
@tatsumi @Cordyceps You are BOTH right in places. He did replace the original guy (Matsuda) who originally pushed for all the NFT's, but Kiryu used to work in Web 3.0 and Blockchain so it's likely that he is up for all that and was one of the reasons he was appointed, as he's only been there for a few years.
Though we don't know for sure. It's possible, though I think unlikely, that he left his previous web 3.0 company because he thinks they actually aren't the future after all. We can dream at least...
ive been a final fantasy hardcore fan all my youth. chrono trigger and many other rpgs gave me tons of fond memories. So much that i make games for living and it works out pretty well for me.
So yeah he is right, you can play games a ton and still achieve some life goals.
At some point you gotta study and work hard, but you can still keep that gaming side active cause its great for sanity.
@McBurn I just started playing Trails of Zero my first trails game and I am obsessed.
@pharos_haven I'm sure I don't need to, but I wish you a fun time^^ it's only gonna get better from there
A charismatic CEO that actually like games is exactly what Sony/Playstation needs right now.
Well, that's actually very encouraging. I know 16 is all the rage right now, but it's kind of encouraging there's a CEO that knows the roots. Whether he delivers or if Squeenix is even able to be salvaged from it's wayward path is another matter, but there's hope.
@Judal27 Oh....I didn't know this was the route with the bad ending.
Final Fantasy 9 was the one for me. Spent the entire long summer between school and college. Wasn't quite a no life scenario as did it all with my best friend.
Well I say all... we actually never did find ONE of those pesky chocographs or whatever they were called. Great game and great time.
Hope the FF9 Remake rumours are true.
@tatsumi The guy that told us that people who play for fun are losers is gone that's fantastic.
@Drago201 thats pretty young for a ceo tbf
I since found out hes the main man behind NFT's so stuff that guy
Well we know he likes the stuff but we don't know his intentions
@Flaming_Kaiser "Please be excited."
@Blackmagehobbit
No joke I think Sony should have hired Reggie Fils Aime as president of SCIE.
The dude was the best part of NOA back in the day. Very charismatic and passionate about the art of video games.
@NEStalgia Better this then a NFT pusher.
@themightyant true, but the guy is all about blockchain, so this Is just a changing of a guard, not going in a new direction. Matsuda is very unpopular and said some very unsavory things, But nothing out of corporate has suggested this is going in any other direction.
@tatsumi Matsuda was the NFT guy? Who also greenlit Nier Automata and even wanted to be in the game.
Talk about a fall from grace....
Hope he's being real here, but in time we shall see.
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