Square Enix president Yousuke Matsuda has further enforced comments that were made by management within the company a few months back about the current trends that the video game industry are taking. Back in May, the company stated that they believe that the industry is heading towards the “games as a service” model.
They also stated that they “will approach game design with a mind to generate recurring revenue streams.” And Matsuda has recently said in a note to shareholders that the games as a service model is the way forward. “Gone are the days in which single-player games were of primary status and multiplayer games secondary. Lately, multiplayer games have taken the lead, and it is standard for games to be designed for long-term play.”
The phrase games as a service is not an entirely new one, although the definition does change depending on which company is applying the principle. Square Enix’s meaning seems to “place a strong emphasis on longer-term user engagement.”So it looks like they will continue to make games that to do just that.
Also, in the note to investors Matsuda spoke about the importance of gameplay streaming, and how the company is looking into turning it into a profitable business. “Once the size of gaming spectatorship grows, gaming itself will gain value as a form of media. This conversion of gaming into a form of media is proceeding rapidly. We also have a great deal of interest in this field and intend to proactively work to turn it into an actual business.”