Wada foresees the death of consoles

Square Enix chief Yoichi Wada is preparing his firm for the demise of physical media – and potentially the death of home consoles.

In an exclusive interview with MCV that will be published next week, the CEO of the publisher – which now owns Eidos and is famous for its epic disc-based Final Fantasy games – said that a dramatic change will come in the next decade offering more opportunity for market growth, but fundamentally transforming the traditional industry.

“In ten years’ time a lot of what we call ‘console games’ won’t exist,” he said.

Wada warned that “all the distributors and sales firms will suffer a big negative impact” from a new era in which interactive entertainment switches from software run on hardware in the home to server-based offerings, game streaming and digital distribution.

He claimed that format-holders including Sony and Microsoft are already prepared for the shift – and that third-parties must follow suit.

More on this story can be found over at MCV