Eidos to increase merchandising capability

Square Enix president and CEO, Yoichi Wada, has told GamesIndustry.biz that he plans to help Eidos increase its merchandising output following the company's acquisition last week - but that he won't expect the existing team to take on the workload.

Instead he'll be hiring new staff members to execute the plan, which he believes will generate additional profit for the company.

"Yes, that's precisely what I'm thinking of doing," Wada replied when asked if he was looking to help Eidos monetise its franchises more effectively. "But that's just my policy, because if I were to tell the existing staff to do that it means their workload would double, and they'd just run away...

"So of course I'll have the proper staff in place and then try to improve the merchandising output. If you have the merchandising capability, as well as strong characters - which we do - then there's no way we shouldn't use it to generate profit."

Square Enix is well known for its success in merchandising its own brands, with a significant income generated from Final Fantasy toys and collectibles alone.

The full second part of the interview with Yoichi Wada, and Eidos CEO Phil Rogers, is available now.