Former Square Enix exec says the developer “has spent two decades slowly moving away from being a content business” after accidentally predicting the rise of AI: “But the sun set on their opportunity to transition”

Genvid CEO Jacob Navok was formerly a business director at Square Enix, and he believes that for the past 20 years, the company has been aware that generative AI could engulf the entire gaming sector – yet it may already be too late for the Final Fantasy creator to evolve.

In an extensive Twitter thread, Navok outlines how previous Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada envisioned a future where video games would transcend simple “content” and transform into what he termed the “Network.” However, while Navok feels that Square Enix has endeavored as tenaciously as a chick escaping its shell to join the so-called Network, he also believes its recent projects suggest that it’s fallen short.

Years back, Square Enix “produced countless content: games, manga, anime,” explains Navok. But, “from 2004, my superior, CEO Yoichi Wada, began articulating in his yearly messages to shareholders about the ‘Network’ being the future rather than mere content. At the time, many presumed it was focused on MMOs.” It wasn’t.

“The Network business he envisioned isn’t about games being online; it concerns the social landscape of games (Metcalfe’s law) supplanting the content industry,” notes Navok.

The ’80s technological marketing principle Metcalfe’s law posits that a network’s power is proportional to the square of its number of devices, or users – thus, the value of Nintendo Switch Online is greater within a group of friends where every individual subscribes to the service, rather than in a gathering where only two people subscribe and must engage in Mario Kart World with CPU Toadette. It’s quite logical.

To Navok, both immensely popular and adaptable gaming platforms like Fortnite and Roblox exemplify the Network. Square Enix – aside from online offerings like Final Fantasy 14, which is a mere ant compared to Roblox’s vast footprint – struggles to compete, especially if Navok is accurate that monumental online games will soon depend on “once-in-a-lifetime transformation” AI to create “everlasting platforms.”

“The next phase involves Roblox-like platforms crafted with AI prompts where children merely specify the type of entertainment they desire,” warns Navok, reiterating the forewarnings depicted in sci-fi literature and Scarlett Johansson films. “They will […] construct a Matrix-like environment in five to ten years. Epic will, too.”

“Games are no longer solely a content industry,” Navok concludes. “Square Enix understands this too, yet the opportunity to pivot to a Network model has passed them by. There were a few million players of Final Fantasy 16.” In stark contrast, Roblox’s farming simulation Grow a Garden, which allows you to cultivate a pepper resembling a plantar wart, has boasted over “21m+ peak CONCURRENCIES.” The future, it seems, is decidedly vegetative.

Final Fantasy 14 developers “struggling to strike a balance between referencing past Final Fantasy games and integrating new content,” but a new Gundam anime might provide just the inspiration Yoshi-P requires.

Ashley is a Senior Writer at GamesRadar+. She has previously worked as a staff writer for Kotaku and Inverse, and has produced freelance articles concerning horror and women in gaming for platforms like Rolling Stone, Vulture, IGN, and Polygon. When she’s not reporting on gaming news, she’s typically engaged in expanding her doll collection while w