MIGS 09: Yoichi Wada, President and CEO of Square Enix Keynote Liveblog

Montreal, Canada has become the largest major center for video game development in Canada, and approaches the largest in North America. Many major studios like EA, Ubisoft, Bioware and Eidos have a large presence there, but there are also many smaller, but still important, studios based in that city.

Companies like Artificial Mind and Movement, and Autodesk all bring a pool of talent, fresh ideas and technology to the video game landscape that has made Montreal a video game Mecca in Canada.

Recognizing the importance of the industry within Montreal the developer and design themed Montreal International Games Summit was formed and has thrived. These summits are working conferences with pivotal members from the game industry providing seminars, panels and round table sessions.

Every year the summit has been a tremendous success with the industry collaborating, sharing information and bringing knowledge and prominence to the active community in Montreal within the gaming world.

Our first Liveblog will be of the Keynote speech by Yoichi Wada, President and CEO of Square Enix.  Mr. Wada will be discussing fostering cultural diversity in game development.  The Liveblog will begin at 8:30 AM on Monday November 16th.

 

Mr. Wada became the President and CEO of Square Enix in 2003 following the merger of the two prominent companies.  Since that time he has focused on embracing cross platform development and training young staff on remakes and smaller titles before moving into larger roles.

 

Mr. Wada has also been very vocal on the need for Japanese developers to look at the strides made by their western counterparts and grow within the industry.  Mr. Wada's talk comes shortly after the announcement that Final Fantasy XIII is launching on Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 in North America on March 9th 2010.