Square Enix Boss Ponders Acquisitions

Japanese developer Square Enix has indicated that it does not intend to sit idle as the industry continues to see horizontal integration.

Company President Yoichi Wada said at a Tokyo summit that Square Enix needs to evolve amid ongoing change.

"It may be a business alliance or it may be us taking a stake in others, but we need to go beyond traditional Square Enix," he said. "We face competition not only from the Japanese video game companies, but from game companies worldwide. We also see some new players from outside the video game industry coming in."

Wada said no concrete budget plans had been made for investments yet, but that it had $9.24 billion at its disposal without the need to consult shareholders.

He also spoke of another approach to better competing in the market, which is to diversify its consumer base by having overseas sales comprise up to 80 percent of revenue. Currently that number stands at 50 percent.

Square Enix was itself formed as a result of a 2003 merger between SquareSoft and Enix Corporation.

Source: Gamespot.com