Stephane D’Astous, former Eidos Montreal General Manager, has left the studio he founded on Tuesday.
During his departure, he has voiced valid concerns about how its parent firm, Square Enix, is running its business and was quoted as saying,
We brought three triple As to the market, and despite that great line up and those great critical reviews we still managed not to respect our financial goals, so that really shook up a lot of people…Square Enix has some things to learn about how to sell their games.
We are in a situation that we have great games that could have sold more. They need to attack that very, very seriously. Last year was supposed to be a home-run season, but we didn’t hit a single home run.
He cited lack of communication with Square Enix during their corporate reshuffle truly hampered his ability to do his job. He said that he has tried over the past few months to revitalize the company, and worked on multiple concerns, but in the end, led to nothing.
It took a lot of time before some information came out from HQ. It was unfortunate that the senior staff of the studios didn’t really participate in the new strategic plan.
Although he has high hopes for the upcoming game, Thief, he believes there are irreconcilable differences between him and Square Enix. His only regret is that he will not be overseeing the final stages of the game.
Hopefully, he will be able to find a new position soon and begin working on more great games that hopefully sell a better.
