{"id":45070,"date":"2025-03-03T16:25:15","date_gmt":"2025-03-03T07:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/?p=45070"},"modified":"2025-03-04T10:45:45","modified_gmt":"2025-03-04T01:45:45","slug":"square-enixs-naoki-yoshida-no-longer-on-companys-board-of-directors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enixs-naoki-yoshida-no-longer-on-companys-board-of-directors\/","title":{"rendered":"Square Enix\u2019s Naoki Yoshida no longer on company\u2019s board of directors\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Last week, Square Enix announced <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enix-announces-new-management-structure-to-speed-up-business-reforms-and-decision-making\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">changes to its management structure<\/a> and published its updated list of company executives. Among other personnel changes, Final Fantasy XIV director and producer Naoki Yoshida (known by fans as Yoshi-P) seems to have been removed from Square Enix\u2019s board of directors.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Yoshida became an executive officer at Square Enix in 2015, followed by a promotion to executive director in 2018. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jp.square-enix.com\/company\/ja\/officer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">official Square Enix company overview<\/a> still lists Yoshida as a director at the time of writing, but their <a href=\"https:\/\/www.jp.square-enix.com\/company\/en\/news\/files\/9ac53f2f381de8e15cecedaae031d93e.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">latest announcement<\/a> from February 27, 2025, lists him only as an executive officer, suggesting a demotion from the position.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, there is a fair chance that Yoshida may have stepped down of his own volition. Although he landed the promotion thanks to his huge contribution to Final Fantasy XIV\u2019s success, he didn\u2019t particularly like the role. In 2023, he reportedly told <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nrc.nl\/nieuws\/2023\/06\/21\/final-fantasy-wat-begon-als-een-zwanenzang-mondde-uit-in-een-van-de-invloedrijkste-gameseries-ooit-a4167773\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dutch publication NRC<\/a> that \u201cI don\u2019t want to be on the board, it\u2019s much more fun to just make games\u201d (via <a href=\"https:\/\/dotesports.com\/ff\/news\/square-enix-wont-let-naoki-yoshida-leave-its-board-of-directors\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dot Esports<\/a>). Apparently, Yoshida even tried to resign from the role of executive director back then, but Square Enix did not allow it. In this case, his new change in rank may actually mean he finally got his way, although it\u2019s all conjecture at this point.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1243\" height=\"694\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1243px) 100vw, 1243px\" src=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250303-45070-001.jpg\" alt=\"Final Fantasy XIV Dawntrail\" class=\"wp-image-45073\" srcset=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250303-45070-001.jpg 1243w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250303-45070-001-380x212.jpg 380w, https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/20250303-45070-001-768x429.jpg 768w\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, Final Fantasy XIV continues to be a big earner for Square Enix, with <a href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enix-reports-9-percent-drop-in-game-sector-operating-profit-despite-strong-sales-of-final-fantasy-xiv-dawntrail-and-dragon-quest-iii-hd-2d-remake\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sales of the latest Dawntrail expansion driving the company&#8217;s earnings<\/a> in the ongoing fiscal year alongside Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Final Fantasy 14 producer and director Yoshida Naoki is no longer listed as an executive director of Square Enix as of February 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":35184,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_gspb_post_css":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[36,17],"class_list":["post-45070","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-final-fantasy","tag-japan-related-news"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Square Enix\u2019s Naoki Yoshida no longer on company\u2019s board of directors\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Final Fantasy 14 producer and director Yoshida Naoki is no longer listed as an executive director of Square Enix as of February 27.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enixs-naoki-yoshida-no-longer-on-companys-board-of-directors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Square Enix\u2019s Naoki Yoshida no longer on company\u2019s board of directors\u00a0 - AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Final Fantasy 14 producer and director Yoshida Naoki is no longer listed as an executive director of Square Enix as of February 27.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/news\/square-enixs-naoki-yoshida-no-longer-on-companys-board-of-directors\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"AUTOMATON WEST\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-03T07:25:15+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-03-04T01:45:45+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/automaton-media.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/08\/20240807-35180-header.jpeg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"506\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@AUTOMATON_ENG\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Amber V\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Square Enix\u2019s Naoki Yoshida no longer on company\u2019s board of directors\u00a0 - 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