Square Enix Clarifies Overseas Business Plans

Officials from Japanese publisher and developer Square Enix have moved to clarify comments made by senior vice president Michihiro Sasaki to The Financial Times, regarding a supposed search for partners in the US and Europe to expand the company’s presence in the West. Sasaki’s comments to The Financial Times that, "We need to seek co-operation with a U.S. publisher - we need local content” were widely reported. He also suggested that the company was keen to expand the percent contribution which overseas sales make to the Japanese company’s revenues, which he put currently at 10 to 20 percent. In a new statement released by president and representative director Yoichi he states that, “It is crucial for us to expand our businesses on a global basis.” However, he makes no reference to seeking co-operation with a U.S. publisher. “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 percent of the total revenue in this segment,” he clarified. “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,” he added. “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.”