- Square Co.
Infobox Defunct company
company_name=Square Company, Ltd.
株式会社スクウェア
company_logo=
company_type=Public (defunct)
fate=Merged withEnix
successor=Square Enix
foundation=September1983
defunct=April 1 ,2003
location=Tokyo, Japan
industry=Interactive entertainment
products=See complete products listing
key_people=Tomoyuki Takechi , ChairmanYoichi Wada , PresidentHironobu Sakaguchi , EVP
subsid=See subsidiaries and related corporationsnihongo|Square Company, Ltd.|株式会社スクウェア|Kabushiki-gaisha Sukuwea was a
Japan esevideo game company founded in September 1983 byMasafumi Miyamoto . It merged withEnix in 2003 and became part ofSquare Enix .Squaresoft was also a
brand name used by Square between 1992 and 2003. As such, the name is often used (incorrectly) to refer to the entire organization, but the Japanese corporate name remained Square Co., Ltd. until the Enix merger.History
Square was founded in
Yokohama inSeptember 1983 byMasafumi Miyamoto after he graduated from Waseda, one of Japan's top universities. Back then, Square was a computer game software division of Den-Yu-Sha, a power line construction company owned by Miyamoto's father. While at the time game development was usually conducted by only one programmer, Miyamoto believed that it would be more efficient to have graphic designers, programmers and professional story writers work together on common projects. Square's first two titles were "The Death Trap " and its sequel "", both designed bypart-time employeeHironobu Sakaguchi and released on theNEC PC-8801 .cite paper | first = Daiji | last = Fujii | title = Entrepreneurial choices of strategic options in Japan's RPG development | publisher = Faculty of Economics,Okayama University | date = January 2006 | url = http://www.e.okayama-u.ac.jp/~dfujii/Option.pdf | format = pdf | accessdate = 2008-04-26]Despite an initial reluctance to develop for video game consoles, Square entered the Nintendo Famicom market in
December 1985 with theporting of "Thexder ". InSeptember 1986 , Square spun off from Den-Yu-Sha and became an independent company officially named Square Co., Ltd.cite web | url=http://www.square-enix.com/jp/company/e/history/page2.html | title=Corporate History | accessdate=2008-04-26 | publisher=Square Enix ] Sakaguchi then became afull-time employee as the Director of Planning and Development of the company. After releasing several unsuccessful games for the Famicom, Square relocated toUeno, Tokyo in 1987 and developed a role-playing game titled "Final Fantasy", inspired byEnix 's success with the first Japanese game of the genre, "Dragon Warrior ". With 400,000 copies sold, "Final Fantasy" spawned multiple sequels over the years and became Square's main franchise.Square has also made other widely known games such as "
Chrono Trigger ", "Chrono Cross ", "Secret of Mana ", "Seiken Densetsu 3 ", "Xenogears ", "Brave Fencer Musashi ", "Parasite Eve ", "Parasite Eve 2 ", "Saga Frontier ", "Romancing Saga ", "Vagrant Story ", "Kingdom Hearts " (done in collaboration with Disney Interactive) and, "".Square was one of the many companies that had planned to develop and publish their games for the
Nintendo 64 , but with the cheaper costs associated with developing games on CDs for the Sony PlayStation, the games were instead made for PlayStation. [cite web | author=IGN staff | date=December 11, 1996 | title=Sony Officially Announces Alignment With Square | url=http://psx.ign.com/articles/062/062158p1.html | work=IGN.com | accessdate=2008-07-19] "Final Fantasy VII " was one of these games, and it sold 9.8 million copies, making it the second best selling game for the Playstation.A merger between Square and its competitor
Enix was in consideration since at least 2000; however, the financial failure of "" made Enix hesitant to join with a company that loses money, [ [http://www.rpgamer.com/news/Q2-2003/042503e.html RPGamer > Square-Enix Gives Chrono Break Trademark Some Playmates ] ] and the merge was delayed untilApril 1 ,2003 , when the two companies finally merged to formSquare Enix .Subsidiaries and related corporations
In Japan
The Disk Original Group (DOG) was a union formed of no less than seven Japanese video game companies: Square Co., Ltd.,
MicroCabin ,Thinking Rabbit ,Carry Lab ,System Sacom ,XTALSOFT , andHummingBirdSoft . FoundedJuly 14 1986 , Square took the lead of this promising alliance to produce games on theFamicom Disk System . Because Square headed DOG, all DOG titles were published under the name Square. In reality, however, Square only produced a few of the eleven games published under the DOG label. In general, the games were commercial failures.DigiCube was established in February 1996. It was formed to market and distribute games and related merchandising (toys ,books ,music , etc.) inAsia . It declaredbankruptcy in October 2003.Escape, Inc. was established in 1998. They developed the racing game "
Driving Emotion Type-S ".Square Visual Works (CG studio), Square Sounds (sound studio), Squartz (quality assurance) and Square Next were all founded in June 1999. All were subsequently absorbed into Square Co., Ltd. in 2001 and 2002.
Quest Corporation was an independent software development studio established in July 1988, best known for the "Ogre Battle " series. Several team members, including Yasumi Matsuno, Hiroshi Minagawa and Akihiko Yoshida, left Quest in 1997 to join Square, where they worked on several titles for the SonyPlayStation , including "Final Fantasy Tactics " and "Vagrant Story ". In June 2002, Quest was purchased by Square.nihongo|The Game Designers Studio, Inc.|株式会社ゲームデザイナーズ・スタジオ|kabushiki-gaisha geimudezainaazu sutajio was
shell corporation founded by Square to create video games for theNintendo GameCube , even though Square had an exclusive deal withSony Computer Entertainment to create games only for PlayStation consoles. To evade that deal, Square held only 49 % of the shares whileAkitoshi Kawazu , head of Square’s "Production Team 2", held 51 %. The formation of a new company also made it possible to take advantage of Nintendo’s "Q fund" for new game developers who develop for GameCube. Game Designers Studio only released a single game, "Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles ". "Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles" wasde facto developed by Square Enix’s "Production Team 2". Publishing was done byNintendo .Square merged with
Enix and formed Square Enix while "Crystal Chronicles" was in development. Square Enix later acquired 100 % of Game Designers Studio and renamed the new subsidiary to SQEX Corporation. After the takeover of Taito in 2005, Square Enix merged SQEX with Taito and renamed the new subsidiary to "Taito Corporation" in March 2006. [https://www.taito.co.jp/ir/ir_library/ir_event/shareholder_meeting/20060206shoushu.pdf]Abroad
Square Soft, Inc. was established as the official North American subsidiary of Square in March 1989. It was responsible for both the production and distribution of North American localizations of Square titles during the 16-bit era, and continued to produce
English language localizations of Square games in the 32-bit era. It has also been responsible for localizing a number of non-Square titles, includingCapcom 's "Breath of Fire" for the SNES andSony 's "Wild ARMs 3 " for thePlayStation 2 . It developed the game "Secret of Evermore " for the SNES. It is currently known as Square Enix, Inc. Square Soft's original headquarters were inRedmond, Washington , where it distributed its now-dead newsletter, theOgopogo Examiner , but it was relocated toCosta Mesa, California in August 1996, where it remained until late 2005; as of 2006, Square Enix, Inc. is now located inEl Segundo, California .Square USA, Inc. (originally Square L.A., Inc.) was established in August 1995. It operates as a high-end
computer-generated imagery research and development studio, and has been integral in the production of graphics for Square-produced games since the beginning of the 32-bit era. Its headquarters are inLos Angeles, California andHonolulu, Hawaii . Like its sister company, Square Soft, Inc., Square USA was a wholly owned subsidiary of Square Co., Ltd.Square Europe, Ltd. was established in December 1998 to localize and market Square-developed games in
Europe andAustralia . Located in London, England, Square Europe was granted exclusive publishing rights in Europe and other PAL territories for all interactive entertainment titles developed by Square.Square Electronic Arts
Square Electronic Arts L.L.C., also known as Square EA, was a joint venture between console
video game developers Square andElectronic Arts . Announced onApril 27 ,1998 , Square EA was based inCosta Mesa ,California and operated under the supervision of Square president and CEOJun Iwasaki , and was responsible for publishing and marketing all games produced by Square inNorth America . Conversely, Electronic Arts Square, K.K., formed at the same time and based inJapan , was responsible for publishing and marketing games produced by Electronic Arts inAsia . Under the terms of the agreement, Electronic Arts owned 30 percent of Square EA, and Square owned 30 percent of EA Square.Square EA proved to be very successful, and during its five years of existence released a higher proportion of localized Square titles to the American market than ever before. EA Square, on the other hand, was somewhat less successful, and struggled to make an impact on the Asian videogame market, which has been traditionally difficult for American game developers to break into.
Following the announcement of the merger between Square and former competitor
Enix in2003 , Square purchased back Electronic Arts' stake in Square EA, and folded it back into Square Soft, Inc., its North Americansubsidiary , which was subsequently renamed Square Enix U.S.A., Inc. (now Square Enix, Inc.) and continues to publishSquare Enix 's titles in North America.Square Pictures
Square Pictures, located in
Honolulu, Hawaii , is a computer-animated film division of Square. In 1997, they began work on a feature CG film based on "Final Fantasy ". In addition there were rumors of movie adaptations of "Transformers" and "EverQuest ". In 2000, the film was revealed as "". The movie was released onJuly 11 , 2001, but was not met with critical acclaim. The film brought in a significantly lower than expected box office return of $80 million. As the film's budget was close to $130 million without marketing, it was considered a .They also created a short film for the
Wachowski brothers that was centered in the world of "The Matrix ", titled the "Final Flight of the Osiris ". The short featured photo realistic characters, just as "The Spirits Within", performing acrobatic moves in action sequences. The film was shown in theaters alongside "Dreamcatcher" and was meant to set the stage for the two "Matrix" sequels. The short was released on DVD inJune 3 , 2003 as part of "The Animatrix ". Square Pictures is now a consolidated subsidiary of Square Enix. [ [http://www.square-enix.com/jp/ir/e/data/ar/download/20070831en.pdf] , p. 31]List of games
References
* [http://www.square-enix.com/jp/company/e/history/ Square Enix Company Timeline] . Accessed on
May 12 ,2005 .
*" [http://gameboy.ign.com/articles/362/362710p1.html Square Completes Acquisition of Quest] ." [http://gameboy.ign.com/ IGN Game Boy] .June 19 ,2002 . Accessed onJanuary 18 ,2005 .External links
* [http://www.square-enix.com/ Square Enix Global site]
* [http://www.square-enix.com/jp/company/e/history/ History of Enix and Square (official site)]
* [http://gamespot.com/gamespot/features/video/hist_square/index.html The History of Square]
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