Koei

:"This article is about the software company. For the Japanese era name, see Kōei (era)."Infobox Company
name = Koei Company, Limited 株式会社コーエー

type = Public (tyo|9654)
foundation = Ashikaga, Tochigi, Japan (July 25, 1978)
founder = Yoichi Erikawa and Keiko Erikawa
location = flagicon|Japan Yokohama, Kanagawa, Japan.
area_served =
key_people =
industry = Video game industry
products = "Dynasty Warriors" "Samurai Warriors" "Nobunaga's Ambition series" "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" "Kessen" "Crimson Sea"
services =
revenue = [http://www.koei.co.jp/english/html/financial/pdfs/annualreport2006.pdf]
operating_income =
net_income =
assets =
equity =
owner =
num_employees =
parent =
divisions =
subsid =
slogan = N/A
homepage = [http://www.koei.com www.koei.com]
footnotes =
intl =

Koei Company, Limited (株式会社コーエー "Kabushiki-gaisha" Kōē), formerly 光栄 (Kōei)) (tyo|9654) is a Japanese video game publisher and developer founded in 1978. The company is best known for its historical simulation games based on the novel "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", as well as simulation games based on historical events.

The company has also found mainstream success in a series of loosely historical action games, the flagship titles of which are "Dynasty Warriors" (真・三國無双 (Shin-Sangoku Musō)) and "Samurai Warriors" (戦国無双 (Sengoku Musō)), the Musō (無双) series. Koei also owns a division known as Ruby Party, which focuses in dating sim games.

History

Koei was established in July 1978 by Yoichi Erikawa and Keiko Erikawa. Mr. Erikawa was a student at Keio University, and when his family's rural dyestuffs business failed he decided to pursue his interest in programming. The company to this day is located in the Hiyoshi area of Yokohama along with Mr. Erikawa's alma mater, and the company's name is simply a spoonerism of the school's.

Kou Shibusawa and Eiji Fukuzawa, whose names are supposed to have made up the name of the company, do not really exist and are names used by the company to avoid giving credit to individual contributors, effectively acting as alter-egos for Mr. Erikawa.Fact|date=September 2008

The company initially focused on personal computer sales and made-to-order business software. In 1983 it released "Nobunaga's Ambition" (信長の野望 "Nobunaga no Yabo"), a historical strategy game set during the Sengoku period of Japanese history. The game went on to receive numerous awards, and Koei produced several more such games set against the backdrop of world history, including "Romance of the Three Kingdoms", set during the Three Kingdoms period of Chinese history, and "Uncharted Waters" (大航海時代 "Dai Kōkai Jidai"; lit. "Great Navigation Era"), set in Portugal during the Age of Exploration.

In 1988, Koei established a North American subsidiary, Koei Corporation, in California. This subsidiary localized Koei games for export to all territories outside of Japan, as well as producing original games and concepts with the leadership of designer Stieg Hedlund, like "Liberty or Death", ', "Gemfire" and '. After Hedlund's departure, this subsidiary ceased game development in 1995, focusing instead on localization, sales and marketing.

A Canadian subsidiary, Koei Canada, Inc. was established in early 2001, and a European subsidiary, Koei Limited was established in early 2003 in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. Koei also maintains subsidiaries in mainland China, Korea, Taiwan and Lithuania. Recently, Koei created a Singapore branch for game development such as "Sangokushi Online".

Koei's Ruby Party division specializes on games labeled as Neoromance: GxB dating sims, usually with extra side-quests. Out of the three Neoromance series, the best known is Angelique, which has been in production since 1994. Harukanaru Toki no Naka De is a newer Neoromance hit, with many sequels and an anime TV series based on it. The newest game in the series, Kiniro no Corda, is gaining popularity partially because the manga series it was based on, has been recently licensed by "Viz" for English language publishing. It gaining more popularity though, and an anime TV series based on it began airing in October 2006. A sequel was also released on the Sony Playstation 2 in March 2007 [ [http://www.gamecity.ne.jp/ps2/corda2/] ] .

On September 4, 2008, Koei announced that it was in talks to purchase ailing competitor Tecmo. [cite web |last=Thorsen|first=Tor|title=Tecmo, Koei in merger talks|publisher=GameSpot|url=http://www.gamespot.com/news/6197229.html|accessdate=2008-09-21|date=2008-09-04 ] [cite web |last=Ashcraft|first=Brian|title=Report: Tecmo And Koei In Talks To Merge|publisher=Kotaku|url=http://kotaku.com/5045256/tecmo-and-koei-in-talks-to-merge|accessdate=2008-09-21|date=2008-09-04 ]

Games Created by Koei

Koei has built a large base of franchises, and have developed on various consoles and computers. Below is a list of game series developed by Koei.

Action games

*"" An action/strategy game based on the Hundred Years' War between England and France. (For the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360).
*"Crimson Sea" (initially released for Xbox in 2002, whereas its sequel was released for PlayStation 2 in 2004).
*"Destrega" A unique 1 vs 1 fighter produced for the PlayStation system.
*"Dynasty Warriors" 1 - 6 (as well as expansions 'Xtreme Legends' for 3 - 5, 'Empires' for 4 - 5, plus a Game Boy Advance, a Nintendo DS and two PlayStation Portable games)" (真・三國無双 "Shin-Sangoku Musō"; spin-off of "Romance of the Three Kingdoms").
*"" For the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, it is based on the mechanics of "Dynasty Warriors" and "Samurai Warriors", only using the "Mobile Suit Gundam" franchise as its base. ("ガンダム無双" Gundam Musō).
*"Mystic Heroes" for the Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2.
*"Ni-Oh" (PlayStation 3 game, movie tie-in).
*"Samurai Warriors" 1, 2 & 3 (as well as an Xtreme Legends expansion to both, and Empires expansion to 2, a PSP game, 'State of War' and "" for the Wii.) ("戦国無双" Sengoku Musō).
*"Stop That Roach!" Action/Puzzle game released in 1994 for Game Boy.
*"Warriors Orochi" For the PlayStation 2, PSP, PC and Xbox 360, it is the first Koei crossover title, featuring characters from the "Dynasty Warriors" and "Samurai Warriors" games. ("無双OROCHI").
*"WinBack" Stealth game for Nintendo 64 and PlayStation 2.

History Simulation

*"Genghis Khan series.
*"Liberty or Death" - Based on the American Revolutionary war.
*"Nobunaga's Ambition series" - published on various platforms.
*"Romance of the Three Kingdoms" I to XI released on the MSX, MSX2, NES, SNES, Genesis, Amiga, PC-Engine CD-ROM, Sega Saturn, PS1, PS2 and PC - turn based strategy games

trategy games

*"Bandit Kings of Ancient China" released on the Nintendo Entertainment System, MS-DOS, Amiga, Macintosh, and PlayStation.
*"Gemfire" - Medieval fantasy simulator.
*"L'Empereur" Turn-based strategy game released on the Nintendo Entertainment System
*"Teitoku no Ketsudan" ("PTO: Pacific Theater of Operations" in North America) Pacific War strategy games.:*"":*"":*""
*"Kessen", "Kessen II" and "Kessen III" Real time strategy games for the PS2 set in Feudal Japan and China during the Three Kingdoms period.
*"", a strategy game set in Europe during World War II

Executive Series

*"Aerobiz" - Airline business simulator series.
*"Top Management" - Business simulator series.
*"Winning Post" - Thoroughbred horse racing management and horse breeding simulator series.

Neoromance games

*"Angelique" ("アンジェリーク")
*"Harukanaru Toki no Naka de" ("遙かなる時空の中で" , translates to "From a Faraway Time")
*"Kiniro no Corda" ("金色のコルダ", translates to "Golden Corda")

=RPGs=

*"Brandish" (Super NES port)
*""
*"" (for Super NES) Also part of Rekoeition series
*"" (西遊記 Saiyuki)
*"Sangokushi Eiketsuden", "Sangokushi Koumeiden", "Sangokushi Sousouden" (as Tactical RPG)
*"Opoona"

ports games

*"G1 Jockey"
*"G1 Jockey 4 2007"
*"Fatal Inertia"
*"Winning Post 7 Maximum 2007"
*""

Music games

*"Gitaroo Man" (As well as a PlayStation Portable version called "Gitaroo Man Lives!")

Rekoeition

*"Ishin no Arashi" First game of Rekoeition series.
*"" nihongo|伊忍道 打倒信長
*"Uncharted Waters" (大航海時代 "Dai Kōkai Jidai"; lit. "Great Navigation Era")
*"Taikou Risshiden" （太閤立志伝）

Games published by Koei in Europe

*"Disgaea" series
*""
*"Atelier Iris" series
*"Phantom Brave"
*"Makai Kingdom"
*""
*"Persona 3"

Divisions

* Omega Force
* Ruby Party

References

External links

* [http://www.koei.co.jp/ Koei Co., Ltd. (Japan) website]
* [http://www.koeikorea.co.kr/ Koei Co., Ltd. (Korea) website]
* [http://www.koei.com.tw/ Koei Co., Ltd. (Taiwan) website]
* [http://www.koei.com/ Koei Co., (United States) website]
* [http://www.koei.co.uk/ Koei Ltd. (Europe) website]
* [http://www.koei.fr/ Koei Ltd. (France) website]
* [http://www.koeicanada.ca/ Koei Canada, Inc. website]
* [http://gamecity.net.cn/ Koei Gamecity (China) Entertainment website]
* [http://www.gamecity.co.jp/ Koei Gamecity (Japan) Entertainment website]
* [http://www.gamecity.ne.kr/ Koei Gamecity (Korea) Entertainment website]
* [http://www.gamecity.com.tw/ Koei Gamecity (Taiwan) Entertainment website]