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Square (video game company)

January 01, 1970

Square Co., Ltd.[b] (also known under its international brand name SquareSoft) was a Japanese video game development studio and publisher. It was founded in 1986 by Masafumi Miyamoto, who spun off part of his father's electronics company Den-Yu-Sha. Among its early employees were designers Hironobu Sakaguchi, Hiromichi Tanaka, Akitoshi Kawazu and Koichi Ishii, artist Kazuko Shibuya, programmer Nasir Gebelli, and composer Nobuo Uematsu. Initially focusing on action games, the team saw popular success with Final Fantasy in 1987. A role-playing video game, it became the first in a franchise of the same name. Later notable staff included directors Yoshinori Kitase and Takashi Tokita, designer and writer Yasumi Matsuno, artists Tetsuya Nomura and Yusuke Naora, and composers Yoko Shimomura and Masashi Hamauzu.

Square Co., Ltd.
Company typeKabushiki gaisha
IndustryVideo games
FoundedSeptember 1986; 37 years ago (1986-09)[1][a]
FounderMasafumi Miyamoto
DefunctApril 1, 2003; 21 years ago (2003-04-01)
FateMerged with Enix
SuccessorSquare Enix
HeadquartersMeguro, Tokyo, Japan
Key people
Tomoyuki Takechi, Chairman
Hironobu Sakaguchi, EVP (1991–2001)
Hisashi Suzuki, President and CEO (1995–2001)
Yoichi Wada, CFO (2000–2001), President (2001–2003)
ProductsSee complete products listing
Number of employees
888 (September 2002)
SubsidiariesSee subsidiaries
Website
Footnotes / references
[3]

Initially developing for PCs, then exclusively for Nintendo systems, Square broke with Nintendo in the 1990s to develop for Sony's in-development PlayStation. Their first PlayStation project, Final Fantasy VII, was a worldwide critical and commercial success, attributed with boosting the popularity of its genre and platform. Alongside the Final Fantasy series, the company developed and published several other notable series, including SaGa, Mana, Front Mission, Chrono, and Kingdom Hearts. Over the years, many staff left to found studios such as Monolith Soft (Xeno), Sacnoth (Shadow Hearts), Mistwalker (Terra Battle), and AlphaDream (Mario & Luigi).

In 2001, the company saw financial troubles due to the commercial failure of the feature film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, which ultimately led Sakaguchi, the creator of Final Fantasy, to withdraw from active game production and leave the company in 2003. The film's failure disrupted merger discussions with Enix, publisher of the Dragon Quest series. Following the success of Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts, negotiations resumed and the merger went ahead on April 1, 2003.

History edit

Origins edit

Square was initially established in September 1983 as a software subsidiary of Den-Yu-Sha, an electric power conglomerate led by Kuniichi Miyamoto.[1][4] His son Masafumi Miyamoto, then a part-time employee of the Science and Technology Department at Keio University, had little interest in following his father into the electricity business.[4][5] Miyamoto instead became a software developer at the Yokohama branch of Den-Yu-Sha in Hiyoshi, with a focus on the emerging video game market.[4][6] Their original offices were based in a former hairdresser's salon.[5] The company's name referred to a golfing term, and represented its aim to face challenges head-on. It also referenced a town square, emphasizing a production environment based on cooperation.[7]

At the time, video games in Japan were usually created by a single programmer. Miyamoto, on the other hand, believed that graphic designers, programmers, and professional story writers would be needed to keep up with advances in computing and video game development.[6] During these early years, the group was compared to a family business; one of the early hires, Shinichiro Kajitani, joined because he was a friend of Miyamoto, and later compared the company at that time to a "college club".[8] To recruit for this new organizational structure, Miyamoto organized a salon in Yokohama and offered jobs to those who demonstrated exceptional programming skills.[4] This led to the part-time hiring of university students Hironobu Sakaguchi and Hiromichi Tanaka, as well as Hisashi Suzuki, who would go on to become Square's CEO.[4][5] Miyamoto's initial plan was to recruit from Keio University, but this never materialized.[5]

1985–1987: First games, Final Fantasy edit

 
Hironobu Sakaguchi (pictured in 2015) was an early employee of Square and created its popular Final Fantasy franchise.

Square's first attempt at a game was an adaptation of the television game show Torin-ingen. As Miyamoto had not secured the license to adapt it, the show's producers forced Square to cancel the game, prompting its team to be reshuffled.[5] Square's first completed game was The Death Trap (1984) for NEC PC-8801, a text adventure set in a war-torn African nation. The Death Trap was the first game published under the Square brand.[9][10] Its sequel, Will: The Death Trap II, was released the following year to commercial success.[6] Many of Square's early titles were produced for PC devices, and focused on the action genre.[11][12]

In 1985, the company negotiated a licensing agreement with Nintendo to develop titles for the Famicom (Nintendo Entertainment System).[9] The company shifted to developing for the Famicom to benefit from its stable hardware, compared to the constantly changing components of PCs.[13] Square's first Famicom release was a port of the run and gun game Thexder (1985), and its first original game was the scrolling shooter King's Knight (1986).[6][11] During this period, the team also hired new developers Akitoshi Kawazu and Koichi Ishii, artist Kazuko Shibuya, Iranian-American programmer Nasir Gebelli, and composer Nobuo Uematsu.[5][14][15][16] Yusuke Hirata joined that year as sales manager, and later became the company's publicity manager.[17][18]

In April 1986, Square moved into new offices based in Ginza, noted as one of the most expensive areas for companies to operate; Sakaguchi later speculated Miyamoto was hoping to attract business by appearing affluent.[1][5] Square was re-established as an independent developer in September of that year with capital of ¥10 million, buying the original Square gaming division from Den-Yu-Sha in December.[1] Sakaguchi was appointed as a Director of Planning and Development,[19] and Hisashi Suzuki became one of the company's directors.[20] Due to the high cost of Ginza rents, the company was forced to move into smaller offices in Okachimachi, Taitō.[1][5] Square began struggling financially following multiple commercial failures for Nintendo's Famicom Disk System peripheral.[5][21] Miyamoto asked the company's four directors for game proposals, with plans to have their staff vote on the best idea. Sakaguchi proposed making a role-playing video game (RPG), believing it to be a viable project after the success of Enix's Dragon Quest (1986).[5]

While skeptical, Miyamoto allowed production of the RPG on the condition it only had a five-person team. Sakaguchi led development, bringing in Gebelli, Kawazu, Ishii, and Uematsu.[5] Production of the game, eventually called Final Fantasy, proceeded in "fits and starts". Sakaguchi eventually received help from the other team at Square led by Tanaka, which included Shibuya and newcomer debugger Hiroyuki Ito.[16][22][23] Production on the game lasted roughly ten months. While shipments of 200,000 units were planned, Sakaguchi persuaded Square to double that number.[5][16] Final Fantasy was released in 1987 to commercial success, selling over 400,000 copies in Japan.[16] It saw greater sales success in North American when it was released in 1989, selling 700,000 copies.[24] Two other Japanese successes from 1987 were Rad Racer and The 3-D Battles of WorldRunner.[25]

1987–1995: Expansion and notable staff edit

The success of Final Fantasy prompted development of Final Fantasy II (1988), which established many of the series recurring elements. This and four more Final Fantasy titles would appear on the Famicom and Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Super Famicom), culminating in Final Fantasy VI (1994). These were among a string of projects that Square produced exclusively for Nintendo consoles, including the portable Game Boy.[5][8] In 1990, Square moved its offices to the Akasaka district, and then to Ebisu, Shibuya in 1992.[9] In April 1991, Square merged with an identically-named dormant company in order to change its share prices. As a result of the merger, Square's foundation was backdated to the other company's July 1966 founding date.[1]

At that time, Square drew some of its development funding from loans from Shikoku Bank. Due to increasing development costs, the bank sent Tomoyuki Takechi on secondment to be their office manager in 1990. Takechi's secondment lasted until 1994, by which time Square had annual sales worth ¥16 million per year.[26][27] In August of that year, Square registered with the Japan Securities Dealers Association to offer shares for public purchase.[7] Sakaguchi was by now a prominent figure within the company, and was promoted to Executive President in 1991.[28][19] His increasing corporate involvement lessened his creative input, prompting him to give greater influence to other staff.[29] Gebelli left Square in 1993, retiring on royalties from the Final Fantasy series.[5][25] Miyamoto stepped down as Square's President in 1991 while remaining a major shareholder, and was replaced by Tetsuo Mizuno.[30][31] In 1991, Suzuki became Vice President.[20]

As Final Fantasy became a featured property for the company, Square produced additional projects that became successful series of their own.[28] The Japan-exclusive real-time strategy series Hanjuku Hero, which began in 1988, parodied conventions of the RPG genre.[32][33] Kawazu helmed an RPG project for the Game Boy. Released in 1989, Makai Toushi SaGa (The Final Fantasy Legend) spawned the SaGa series, which Kawazu would continue to be involved over the years.[34][35] After the release of Final Fantasy III (1990), Ishii was offered the chance to create his own game, leading to the production of Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden (Final Fantasy Adventure) for the Game Boy in 1991. Ishii went on to develop additional Seiken Densetsu titles, released outside of Japan as the Mana series.[36][37] A famous game from the period was Chrono Trigger, born from a collaboration between Sakaguchi, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii, and Dragon Ball artist Akira Toriyama.[38][39] Among other standalone titles were the Western-exclusive Secret of Evermore,[40] and the Mario-themed Super Mario RPG co-produced with Nintendo.[41] Reflecting on this period, Sakaguchi noted that Final Fantasy was the company's most recognized property, while celebrating the fact that the company would still be profitable on the merits of their other successful game series.[42]

Additional staff joined Square by the early 1990s, inspired by the successful Final Fantasy series, with several first working on Final Fantasy IV (1991),[43][44] Yoshinori Kitase acted as a writer and later director,[45] artist Tetsuya Nomura began as a graphic designer,[46] and Tetsuya Takahashi and Kaori Tanaka were both artists and writers.[47][48] Takashi Tokita became a full-time employee at the company,[49][50] and Hiroyuki Ito began his work as a game designer.[23][51] Chihiro Fujioka worked on several projects including co-directing Super Mario RPG.[52] Kenichi Nishi worked in minor roles on Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG.[53] Masato Kato, who joined in 1993, became scenario writer for Chrono Trigger.[54][55] Artist Yusuke Naora first worked on Final Fantasy VI.[8][56] Kazushige Nojima, known for his work on the Glory of Heracles series, joined as a scenario writer.[57] Future director Motomu Toriyama, who had no experience with game development, began as a scenario writer.[58]

Square also hired additional music staff.[39][59] Kenji Ito contributed to both the SaGa and Mana series.[60][61] Hiroki Kikuta worked on the Mana series and standalone projects.[59] Yasunori Mitsuda started as a sound designer and was lauded for his work on the Chrono series.[39] Yoko Shimomura, formerly a Capcom composer, did her first work on Live A Live (1994).[62] In 1995, Square moved its headquarters to the Shimomeguro district in Meguro.[9]

1995–1999: Move to PlayStation edit

 
Due to Nintendo's continued use of cartridges, Square moved game production over to the PlayStation.

Following the release of Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger, Square staff began planning the next entry in the Final Fantasy series, and entered the emerging 3D gaming market. With the production of Final Fantasy VII, Square decided to shift their projects to Sony's new PlayStation console, prompted by the affordability of CD-ROM distribution, compared to Nintendo's continued use of expensive cartridges.[63] This shift caused a long-standing rift between Square and Nintendo; one Square employee recalled Nintendo telling the company to "never come back".[8] In 1996, Square's final project with Nintendo was Sting Entertainment's Treasure Hunter G for the Super Famicom, while the company debuted DreamFactory's Tobal No. 1 for the PlayStation that same year.[9][64] Soon after, the company signed a licensing agreement with Sony, who gained the exclusive right to publish Square's next six games in the West.[8][9]

Square continued work on Final Fantasy VII, with Kitase as director, Naora as art director, Nomura as a lead artist, and Nojima as scenario writer. Released worldwide in 1997, Final Fantasy VII was a worldwide commercial and critical success, bringing Square international fame.[8] Also in 1997, at Square's invitation, Takechi returned and took Mizuno's place as President.[27] Three new hires during the period were Shinji Hashimoto, Yasumi Matsuno, and Masashi Hamauzu.[65][66] Hashimoto joined in 1995 as promotions producer for Final Fantasy VII.[65] Matsuno, along with a number of other developers, had left Quest Corporation following the release of Tactics Ogre (1995), and worked with Sakaguchi on Final Fantasy Tactics (1997).[66][67] Hamauzu joined in 1996, and worked on Final Fantasy spin-off titles and the SaGa series.[68] Sakaguchi, working on other projects, took on the role of executive producer for the series beginning with Final Fantasy VIII, and Hashimoto stepped in as producer.[8][29] Hirata went from an administrative position to lead producer, focusing on diversifying Square's library into new game genres.[17]

Several properties were introduced during this period.[8] These included Parasite Eve, based on a novel of the same name by Hideaki Sena;[69][70] Front Mission, which began on the Super Famicom but was transferred to the PlayStation beginning with its second entry;[71] and the Final Fantasy spin-off series Chocobo, starring an incarnation of the titular mascot character.[72] As Square was estranged from Nintendo,[8] the company supported other platforms including the WonderSwan and Windows.[7][73] Late in the PlayStation's lifecycle, Square continued to support the console with multiple releases, such as Threads of Fate (1999) and Vagrant Story (2000).[74] The company also began work on PlayOnline, a digital storefront and a platform for online game services and web content.[75][76]

During the late 1990s, Square launched an initiative to give teams of younger staff members a chance to create experimental titles on smaller budgets. Among such titles were Xenogears, Soukaigi, and Another Mind.[77] Around this time, several staff members departed Square due to creative differences or a desire to work on their own projects.[78] These included Takahashi and Tanaka,[78] Fujioka,[52] Nishi,[79] Kikuta,[59] Mitsuda,[80] and Mana artist Shinichi Kameoka.[81] In April 2000, Suzuki was appointed Square's new President, while Takechi became a company chairman. Also at this time, two outside directors were appointed, Kenichi Ohmae of Ohmae & Associates and Makoto Naruke of Microsoft. The corporate reshuffle was intended to strengthen Square's overseas connections and bring in technical and administrative support for future digital and online content.[20] Alongside this, Yoichi Wada joined the company as a company director and eventually COO.[82] In August 2000, Square was listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section, which includes the largest companies on the exchange.[7][83]

2000–2003: The Spirits Within, final years edit

In addition to leading production on Final Fantasy IX (2000), Sakaguchi also worked at the 1997-established Square Pictures studio on a Final Fantasy feature film.[8][84] Called Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, it was planned as Sakaguchi's first push towards cross-media storytelling; however, the project ran over budget and ended up costing Square and co-producer Columbia Pictures US$137 million.[28][85] Upon its release in 2001, The Spirits Within was met with mixed critical reception, and grossed only $85 million. Labeled as a box-office bomb, the film damaged Square's finances, and led to the closure of Square Pictures.[8]

Following both the failure of The Spirits Within and a delay to Final Fantasy X (2001) for the PlayStation 2, Square suffered a financial loss for the first time, prompting Sakaguchi, Takechi, and director Masatsugu Hiramatsu to resign from their positions.[8][86] Sakaguchi was kept on as executive producer for Final Fantasy, while Takechi and Hiramatsu were retained as external consultants.[86] This period left Sakaguchi in a state of low morale.[87] In late 2001, Suzuki stepped down as President, and was replaced by Wada.[88] Yosuke Matsuda became Senior Vice President.[82] Kenji Ito also left during this period to work as a freelance composer.[60] Prior to the film's release, rival company Enix was proposing merging with another game company to alleviate development costs, opening serious discussions with Square in 2000.[89][90] Square's financial losses with The Spirits Within prompted Enix to halt discussions.[90]

Under Wada, the company underwent restructuring with the intent of streamlining production and resources, and cutting development costs to increase profits.[91] After evaluation of its financial position, and with changes to the console war due to Microsoft's Xbox, Square opened talks with Nintendo for the first time since their breakup in the 1990s.[92][93] The talks were successful, with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles beginning development for the GameCube in late 2001.[93][94] Square also began production on Final Fantasy X-2, the first direct sequel to a Final Fantasy game.[91][95][96] Final Fantasy X-2 was Sakaguchi's last credited project at Square, and he left the company in 2003.[97] Around this time, Square also began development on Kingdom Hearts (2002), with Nomura making his directorial debut. The game was a collaboration between Square and The Walt Disney Company, blending Disney characters with Final Fantasy elements in an original story.[98][99] Kingdom Hearts was Shimomura's last project as an in-house composer before going freelance in 2002.[100] Also released in 2002 was the Japanese version of Final Fantasy XI, the company's first MMORPG.[101][73] Conceived by Sakaguchi, it was developed by the Chrono team and led by Ishii.[73] Final Fantasy XI and its first expansion was Kato's last work for Square before leaving in 2002 to go freelance.[102]

Following the commercial success of Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts, Square and Enix resumed talks and agreed to merge their two companies. Wada described it as a merger of two companies "at their height".[103] Despite this, the merger had its skeptics, particularly Miyamoto who did not want to see his controlling stake diluted in a merged company.[31] Miyamoto's issue was resolved by altering the exchange ratio to one Square share for 0.81 Enix shares, and the merger was greenlit.[104] Square Enix was formed on April 1, 2003, with Enix as the surviving corporate entity and Square dissolving its departments and subsidiaries into the new company.[104][105] Around 80% of Square's staff transitioned into Square Enix.[106] Square's last release was the Japanese version of X-2.[107]

Structure edit

Development structure edit

See also: Localization of Square Enix video games

During reports on the merger with Enix, Takashi Oya of Deutsche Securities contrasted Enix's tradition of outsourcing development versus Square's approach to developing "everything by itself".[108] When Square was founded in the early 1980s, there was no set development structure, with the ten-person staff freely shifting between roles and projects. This eventually evolved into two loosely-defined production groups, led by Sakaguchi and Tanaka, respectively.[5] Following the release of Final Fantasy IV, Sakaguchi divided the production team, assigning different staff members to the Final Fantasy, SaGa and Mana series.[46] A secondary studio was founded in Osaka in 1990, with Final Fantasy Legend III (1991) as their first project.[109]

By 1997, the company was divided into eight development divisions, with two based in Osaka.[110] In 1998, the old development divisions were restructured into Production Departments, and the Osaka branch was closed down.[111] The system was reshuffled again in 2002 to promote "greater understanding", and allow for reassignment between divisions.[112] Among the heads of divisions at this time were Kitase, Kawazu, Tanaka, Matsuno and Hirata.[112] Following the merger with Enix, the eight divisions were incorporated into the new company, with two additional divisions brought in from Enix.[113]

Square initially did not have an internal localization department, instead outsourcing to a number of translators.[114] Following the release of Final Fantasy VII, which saw criticism for its localization, Square created an internal department to encourage higher quality.[115] Initially having only two employees, it grew steadily over the years.[116] Individual games still ran into difficulties due to their large text sizes, difficulties translating some culture-specific elements, potential censorship, and the introduction of voice acting with games including Final Fantasy X.[115][117][118] Notable localization staff included Kaoru Moriyama,[114] Ted Woolsey,[119] Michael Basket,[115] Richard Honeywood,[115] and Alexander O. Smith.[117]

Publishing and subsidiaries edit

See also: List of Square video games
 
The logo of SquareSoft, Inc.

While Square self-published the majority of its games in Japan,[1][4] by contrast their Western presence during the 80s and early 90s was small.[25] RPGs were not popular in the North American market at that time, and Square's presence in Europe was limited.[25][119] The original Final Fantasy was published in North America in 1990 by Nintendo of America near the end of the life cycle of the Nintendo Entertainment System, resulting in its two sequels being passed over for localization at that time.[120][121] After opening their North American offices, Square began publishing selected titles under the "SquareSoft" brand.[1][122][123] One of their third-party North American releases was the original Breath of Fire by Capcom, who were busy enough to outsource publishing and localization to Square.[119][124] Many Square titles remained exclusive to Japan, for reasons including design complexities, low graphical quality, and technical difficulties.[119][125][126] In the 1990s, Square's first six PlayStation releases were published by Sony as part of a contract between the two companies.[8] Eidos Interactive notably handled the Windows ports of Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII.[127][128] In Europe, Square's local branch self-published a number of games including mainline Final Fantasy titles.[129] It also partnered with third-party companies including Eidos, Crave Entertainment, and Infogrames for either publishing or distribution of different titles.[128][130][131]

In 1989, Square established SquareSoft in Redmond, Washington, to provide development and publishing support in the West. As Square moved its projects to PlayStation in 1994, SquareSoft moved to Marina del Rey, California, while changing its name twice in one year, to Square LA followed by Square USA.[1][8][9] Square USA would notably develop Secret of Evermore.[40] In 1997, a second Square USA branch was opened in Honolulu, Hawaii to focus on new interactive entertainment research,[132] going on to help with CGI development on Parasite Eve and Final Fantasy IX.[133] Square Europe was founded in 1998 in London, England, focusing on publishing in Europe.[1][9]

A publishing brand called Aques was established by Square in 1996. The name was an anagram of Square's name, as well as an acronym for "Advanced QUality Entertainment and Sports", representing the company's diversification outside of role-playing games.[134] That same year, Square established a distribution company called DigiCube, with convenience stores as their main strategy.[1][135] The subdidiary expanded into book publishing, stocked games from other companies, and at one point published games under its own brand.[136][137][138] DigiCube survived the Square Enix merger, though it declared bankruptcy in 2004 after years of declining sales.[139][135]

In 1999, Square created a number of subsidiaries with dedicated roles: Square Visual Works to focus on producing CGI animation, Square Sounds for music and sound effects, Squartz for quality control and user support, and Square Next to support smaller game projects.[1][9] Following the success of Final Fantasy VII in 1997, Sakaguchi founded a dedicated CGI film studio called Square Pictures in Hawaii; his aim was to both develop The Spirits Within and help with further development of Square's CGI technology.[8][84] By the end of 2001, Square Pictures was dissolved and merged into Visual Works.[139] Square USA's Hawaiian branch developed the CGI short "Final Flight of the Osiris" that later formed part of the 2003 anthology film The Animatrix.[140] The branch was shut down in 2002 following a failed attempt to find a film studio partner.[141]

In 2002, Square Next was rebranded as The Game Designer Studio, with ownership between Square's Product Development Division 2 and Kawazu. The aim was to allow for development of games for Nintendo consoles without impacting production on Sony platform games.[92][93][142] The Game Designers Studio was absorbed back into Square Enix after the completion of Crystal Chronicles, first renamed to SQEX Corporation and eventually dissolved entirely in 2010.[143][144][145] Square Sounds was dissolved into the main company in March 2002 as an internal division, a move attributed to cost cutting.[146] All the other subsidiaries were folded into Square Enix during the merger, with Visual Works becoming its own dedicated department.[139]

On May 1, 1998, Square formed a joint-venture partnership with Electronic Arts; Square Electronic Arts published Square titles in North America, while Electronic Arts Square published Electronic Arts titles in Japan.[1][147] The partnership emerged the year following Electronic Arts winding down a similar partnership with Victor in December 1997.[148] Shares were distributed between the two on a 70/30 basis relating to their role; Square Electronic Arts had Square owning 70%, while Electronic Arts owned 30%.[127] Electronic Arts Square would also develop the PlayStation 2 launch title X-Squad.[149] In March 2003, coinciding with the Square Enix merger, both ventures were dissolved, with each partner buying the other's shares. In its February press release, Square described the joint-venture as a success.[150] The Square side of the venture was rebranded under the Square Enix name.[139]

Affiliates and acquisitions edit

Between 1986 and 1988, Square led a collective of game developers dedicated to the production of games for the Famicom Disk System. The Square-owned label, called Disk Original Group (DOG), included Square, HummingBirdSoft, System Sacom, Microcabin, Carry Lab, Thinking Rabbit, and Xtalsoft. This coalition was able to pool financial resources, allowing them to overcome the prohibitive costs of acting individually.[21][151][152] The Famicom Disk System was rendered defunct by 1988 due to increased storage capacity in standard Famicom ROM cartridges.[152] In January 1994, Square acquired developer Cobra Team, turning it into a subsidiary called Solid and focusing their work on cooperating with external developers.[1][153] In 1995, Square established DreamFactory as an affiliate studio, which developed fighting-based titles for the PlayStation and PS2. DreamFactory became an independent company in 2001 after Square transferred their shares.[154][155] Square later founded subsidiary Escape in March 1998 with staff from DreamFactory. It only produced Driving Emotion Type-S (2000) before being liquidated in 2003.[139][156]

The company held a stake in Bushido Blade developer Lightweight, founded in 1995.[157][158] It sold that stake to software company Forside in 1999.[159][160] Front Mission developers G-Craft had a close relationship with Square, who provided funds and production resources. Square bought out G-Craft and incorporated it in 1997 during production of Front Mission 2.[71] Other affiliates associated with Square between the early 1990s to 2000 were font company Kusanagi, and developers Positron and Luciola.[160][161] In 2002, Ogre Battle developer Quest Corporation withdrew from game development and was bought by Square. Absorbed and repurposed into a production division, their first project was Final Fantasy Tactics Advance (2003).[162][163][164]

Related studios edit

Many Square employees went on to found notable development studios and other ventures.[78][165] Nishi founded Love-de-Lic in 1995, producing three games including Moon: Remix RPG Adventure. Love-de-Lic staff went on to found other small studios including Skip Ltd. (Chibi-Robo!), and Punchline (Rule of Rose).[53][79][166] Frustrated with Square's rigid hierarchy, Kikuta founded Sacnoth in 1997, which would become known for the Shadow Hearts series;[78][59] he left Sacnoth in 1999 following the release of his project Koudelka and founded the music label Nostrilia.[59][167] Several Xenogears developers, including Takahashi and Tanaka, founded Monolith Soft in 1999 in order to pursue projects outside the Final Fantasy series, developing more games using the Xeno prefix.[78][168]

Kameoka and other developers who worked on Legend of Mana (1999) founded Brownie Brown in 2000. Brownie Brown later worked with Square Enix on Sword of Mana (2003), a remake of Final Fantasy Adventure.[81][169] Also in 2000, Mizuno founded AlphaDream, engaging Fujioka and going on to develop the Mario & Luigi series.[52][170] Staff members from Square Pictures, including The Spirits Within co-director Motonori Sakakibara, established Sprite Animation Studios in 2002.[171][172] After his resignation from Square, Takechi founded music label Dreamusic in 2001 with Kazunaga Nitta.[26] Mitsuda founded the music studio Procyon in 2001 so he could work while maintaining his health.[80] After stepping down as president in 2001, Sakaguchi experienced a period of low morale before returning to game development, founding Mistwalker in 2004.[87] The studio became known for the Blue Dragon and Terra Wars series, as well as stand-alone projects such as Lost Odyssey and The Last Story.[28][78][87]

References edit

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Notes edit

  1. ^ On April 24, 1991, Square was merged into another company established on July 11, 1966, that became the new Square Co., Ltd.[2]
  2. ^ Japanese: 株式会社スクウェア, Hepburn: Kabushiki-gaisha Sukuwea

Further reading edit

  • Chun, Michelle (March 18, 2002). (PDF). Stanford University. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 20, 2012. Retrieved September 2, 2011.

External links edit

  • Official website (archives) Wayback Machine
  • Official website (archives)
  • Official website (archives)
  • History of Enix and Square (Square Enix's site) May 30, 2007, at the Wayback Machine

January 01, 1970
square, video, game, company, square, also, known, under, international, brand, name, squaresoft, japanese, video, game, development, studio, publisher, founded, 1986, masafumi, miyamoto, spun, part, father, electronics, company, among, early, employees, were,. Square Co Ltd b also known under its international brand name SquareSoft was a Japanese video game development studio and publisher It was founded in 1986 by Masafumi Miyamoto who spun off part of his father s electronics company Den Yu Sha Among its early employees were designers Hironobu Sakaguchi Hiromichi Tanaka Akitoshi Kawazu and Koichi Ishii artist Kazuko Shibuya programmer Nasir Gebelli and composer Nobuo Uematsu Initially focusing on action games the team saw popular success with Final Fantasy in 1987 A role playing video game it became the first in a franchise of the same name Later notable staff included directors Yoshinori Kitase and Takashi Tokita designer and writer Yasumi Matsuno artists Tetsuya Nomura and Yusuke Naora and composers Yoko Shimomura and Masashi Hamauzu Square Co Ltd Company typeKabushiki gaishaIndustryVideo gamesFoundedSeptember 1986 37 years ago 1986 09 1 a FounderMasafumi MiyamotoDefunctApril 1 2003 21 years ago 2003 04 01 FateMerged with EnixSuccessorSquare EnixHeadquartersMeguro Tokyo JapanKey peopleTomoyuki Takechi ChairmanHironobu Sakaguchi EVP 1991 2001 Hisashi Suzuki President and CEO 1995 2001 Yoichi Wada CFO 2000 2001 President 2001 2003 ProductsSee complete products listingNumber of employees888 September 2002 SubsidiariesSee subsidiariesWebsitewww square co jpFootnotes references 3 Initially developing for PCs then exclusively for Nintendo systems Square broke with Nintendo in the 1990s to develop for Sony s in development PlayStation Their first PlayStation project Final Fantasy VII was a worldwide critical and commercial success attributed with boosting the popularity of its genre and platform Alongside the Final Fantasy series the company developed and published several other notable series including SaGa Mana Front Mission Chrono and Kingdom Hearts Over the years many staff left to found studios such as Monolith Soft Xeno Sacnoth Shadow Hearts Mistwalker Terra Battle and AlphaDream Mario amp Luigi In 2001 the company saw financial troubles due to the commercial failure of the feature film Final Fantasy The Spirits Within which ultimately led Sakaguchi the creator of Final Fantasy to withdraw from active game production and leave the company in 2003 The film s failure disrupted merger discussions with Enix publisher of the Dragon Quest series Following the success of Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts negotiations resumed and the merger went ahead on April 1 2003 Contents 1 History 1 1 Origins 1 2 1985 1987 First games Final Fantasy 1 3 1987 1995 Expansion and notable staff 1 4 1995 1999 Move to PlayStation 1 5 2000 2003 The Spirits Within final years 2 Structure 2 1 Development structure 2 2 Publishing and subsidiaries 2 3 Affiliates and acquisitions 3 Related studios 4 References 5 Notes 6 Further reading 7 External linksHistory editOrigins edit Square was initially established in September 1983 as a software subsidiary of Den Yu Sha an electric power conglomerate led by Kuniichi Miyamoto 1 4 His son Masafumi Miyamoto then a part time employee of the Science and Technology Department at Keio University had little interest in following his father into the electricity business 4 5 Miyamoto instead became a software developer at the Yokohama branch of Den Yu Sha in Hiyoshi with a focus on the emerging video game market 4 6 Their original offices were based in a former hairdresser s salon 5 The company s name referred to a golfing term and represented its aim to face challenges head on It also referenced a town square emphasizing a production environment based on cooperation 7 At the time video games in Japan were usually created by a single programmer Miyamoto on the other hand believed that graphic designers programmers and professional story writers would be needed to keep up with advances in computing and video game development 6 During these early years the group was compared to a family business one of the early hires Shinichiro Kajitani joined because he was a friend of Miyamoto and later compared the company at that time to a college club 8 To recruit for this new organizational structure Miyamoto organized a salon in Yokohama and offered jobs to those who demonstrated exceptional programming skills 4 This led to the part time hiring of university students Hironobu Sakaguchi and Hiromichi Tanaka as well as Hisashi Suzuki who would go on to become Square s CEO 4 5 Miyamoto s initial plan was to recruit from Keio University but this never materialized 5 1985 1987 First games Final Fantasy edit nbsp Hironobu Sakaguchi pictured in 2015 was an early employee of Square and created its popular Final Fantasy franchise Square s first attempt at a game was an adaptation of the television game show Torin ingen As Miyamoto had not secured the license to adapt it the show s producers forced Square to cancel the game prompting its team to be reshuffled 5 Square s first completed game was The Death Trap 1984 for NEC PC 8801 a text adventure set in a war torn African nation The Death Trap was the first game published under the Square brand 9 10 Its sequel Will The Death Trap II was released the following year to commercial success 6 Many of Square s early titles were produced for PC devices and focused on the action genre 11 12 In 1985 the company negotiated a licensing agreement with Nintendo to develop titles for the Famicom Nintendo Entertainment System 9 The company shifted to developing for the Famicom to benefit from its stable hardware compared to the constantly changing components of PCs 13 Square s first Famicom release was a port of the run and gun game Thexder 1985 and its first original game was the scrolling shooter King s Knight 1986 6 11 During this period the team also hired new developers Akitoshi Kawazu and Koichi Ishii artist Kazuko Shibuya Iranian American programmer Nasir Gebelli and composer Nobuo Uematsu 5 14 15 16 Yusuke Hirata joined that year as sales manager and later became the company s publicity manager 17 18 In April 1986 Square moved into new offices based in Ginza noted as one of the most expensive areas for companies to operate Sakaguchi later speculated Miyamoto was hoping to attract business by appearing affluent 1 5 Square was re established as an independent developer in September of that year with capital of 10 million buying the original Square gaming division from Den Yu Sha in December 1 Sakaguchi was appointed as a Director of Planning and Development 19 and Hisashi Suzuki became one of the company s directors 20 Due to the high cost of Ginza rents the company was forced to move into smaller offices in Okachimachi Taitō 1 5 Square began struggling financially following multiple commercial failures for Nintendo s Famicom Disk System peripheral 5 21 Miyamoto asked the company s four directors for game proposals with plans to have their staff vote on the best idea Sakaguchi proposed making a role playing video game RPG believing it to be a viable project after the success of Enix s Dragon Quest 1986 5 While skeptical Miyamoto allowed production of the RPG on the condition it only had a five person team Sakaguchi led development bringing in Gebelli Kawazu Ishii and Uematsu 5 Production of the game eventually called Final Fantasy proceeded in fits and starts Sakaguchi eventually received help from the other team at Square led by Tanaka which included Shibuya and newcomer debugger Hiroyuki Ito 16 22 23 Production on the game lasted roughly ten months While shipments of 200 000 units were planned Sakaguchi persuaded Square to double that number 5 16 Final Fantasy was released in 1987 to commercial success selling over 400 000 copies in Japan 16 It saw greater sales success in North American when it was released in 1989 selling 700 000 copies 24 Two other Japanese successes from 1987 were Rad Racer and The 3 D Battles of WorldRunner 25 1987 1995 Expansion and notable staff edit The success of Final Fantasy prompted development of Final Fantasy II 1988 which established many of the series recurring elements This and four more Final Fantasy titles would appear on the Famicom and Super Nintendo Entertainment System Super Famicom culminating in Final Fantasy VI 1994 These were among a string of projects that Square produced exclusively for Nintendo consoles including the portable Game Boy 5 8 In 1990 Square moved its offices to the Akasaka district and then to Ebisu Shibuya in 1992 9 In April 1991 Square merged with an identically named dormant company in order to change its share prices As a result of the merger Square s foundation was backdated to the other company s July 1966 founding date 1 At that time Square drew some of its development funding from loans from Shikoku Bank Due to increasing development costs the bank sent Tomoyuki Takechi on secondment to be their office manager in 1990 Takechi s secondment lasted until 1994 by which time Square had annual sales worth 16 million per year 26 27 In August of that year Square registered with the Japan Securities Dealers Association to offer shares for public purchase 7 Sakaguchi was by now a prominent figure within the company and was promoted to Executive President in 1991 28 19 His increasing corporate involvement lessened his creative input prompting him to give greater influence to other staff 29 Gebelli left Square in 1993 retiring on royalties from the Final Fantasy series 5 25 Miyamoto stepped down as Square s President in 1991 while remaining a major shareholder and was replaced by Tetsuo Mizuno 30 31 In 1991 Suzuki became Vice President 20 As Final Fantasy became a featured property for the company Square produced additional projects that became successful series of their own 28 The Japan exclusive real time strategy series Hanjuku Hero which began in 1988 parodied conventions of the RPG genre 32 33 Kawazu helmed an RPG project for the Game Boy Released in 1989 Makai Toushi SaGa The Final Fantasy Legend spawned the SaGa series which Kawazu would continue to be involved over the years 34 35 After the release of Final Fantasy III 1990 Ishii was offered the chance to create his own game leading to the production of Seiken Densetsu Final Fantasy Gaiden Final Fantasy Adventure for the Game Boy in 1991 Ishii went on to develop additional Seiken Densetsu titles released outside of Japan as the Mana series 36 37 A famous game from the period was Chrono Trigger born from a collaboration between Sakaguchi Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii and Dragon Ball artist Akira Toriyama 38 39 Among other standalone titles were the Western exclusive Secret of Evermore 40 and the Mario themed Super Mario RPG co produced with Nintendo 41 Reflecting on this period Sakaguchi noted that Final Fantasy was the company s most recognized property while celebrating the fact that the company would still be profitable on the merits of their other successful game series 42 Additional staff joined Square by the early 1990s inspired by the successful Final Fantasy series with several first working on Final Fantasy IV 1991 43 44 Yoshinori Kitase acted as a writer and later director 45 artist Tetsuya Nomura began as a graphic designer 46 and Tetsuya Takahashi and Kaori Tanaka were both artists and writers 47 48 Takashi Tokita became a full time employee at the company 49 50 and Hiroyuki Ito began his work as a game designer 23 51 Chihiro Fujioka worked on several projects including co directing Super Mario RPG 52 Kenichi Nishi worked in minor roles on Chrono Trigger and Super Mario RPG 53 Masato Kato who joined in 1993 became scenario writer for Chrono Trigger 54 55 Artist Yusuke Naora first worked on Final Fantasy VI 8 56 Kazushige Nojima known for his work on the Glory of Heracles series joined as a scenario writer 57 Future director Motomu Toriyama who had no experience with game development began as a scenario writer 58 Square also hired additional music staff 39 59 Kenji Ito contributed to both the SaGa and Mana series 60 61 Hiroki Kikuta worked on the Mana series and standalone projects 59 Yasunori Mitsuda started as a sound designer and was lauded for his work on the Chrono series 39 Yoko Shimomura formerly a Capcom composer did her first work on Live A Live 1994 62 In 1995 Square moved its headquarters to the Shimomeguro district in Meguro 9 1995 1999 Move to PlayStation edit nbsp Due to Nintendo s continued use of cartridges Square moved game production over to the PlayStation Following the release of Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger Square staff began planning the next entry in the Final Fantasy series and entered the emerging 3D gaming market With the production of Final Fantasy VII Square decided to shift their projects to Sony s new PlayStation console prompted by the affordability of CD ROM distribution compared to Nintendo s continued use of expensive cartridges 63 This shift caused a long standing rift between Square and Nintendo one Square employee recalled Nintendo telling the company to never come back 8 In 1996 Square s final project with Nintendo was Sting Entertainment s Treasure Hunter G for the Super Famicom while the company debuted DreamFactory s Tobal No 1 for the PlayStation that same year 9 64 Soon after the company signed a licensing agreement with Sony who gained the exclusive right to publish Square s next six games in the West 8 9 Square continued work on Final Fantasy VII with Kitase as director Naora as art director Nomura as a lead artist and Nojima as scenario writer Released worldwide in 1997 Final Fantasy VII was a worldwide commercial and critical success bringing Square international fame 8 Also in 1997 at Square s invitation Takechi returned and took Mizuno s place as President 27 Three new hires during the period were Shinji Hashimoto Yasumi Matsuno and Masashi Hamauzu 65 66 Hashimoto joined in 1995 as promotions producer for Final Fantasy VII 65 Matsuno along with a number of other developers had left Quest Corporation following the release of Tactics Ogre 1995 and worked with Sakaguchi on Final Fantasy Tactics 1997 66 67 Hamauzu joined in 1996 and worked on Final Fantasy spin off titles and the SaGa series 68 Sakaguchi working on other projects took on the role of executive producer for the series beginning with Final Fantasy VIII and Hashimoto stepped in as producer 8 29 Hirata went from an administrative position to lead producer focusing on diversifying Square s library into new game genres 17 Several properties were introduced during this period 8 These included Parasite Eve based on a novel of the same name by Hideaki Sena 69 70 Front Mission which began on the Super Famicom but was transferred to the PlayStation beginning with its second entry 71 and the Final Fantasy spin off series Chocobo starring an incarnation of the titular mascot character 72 As Square was estranged from Nintendo 8 the company supported other platforms including the WonderSwan and Windows 7 73 Late in the PlayStation s lifecycle Square continued to support the console with multiple releases such as Threads of Fate 1999 and Vagrant Story 2000 74 The company also began work on PlayOnline a digital storefront and a platform for online game services and web content 75 76 During the late 1990s Square launched an initiative to give teams of younger staff members a chance to create experimental titles on smaller budgets Among such titles were Xenogears Soukaigi and Another Mind 77 Around this time several staff members departed Square due to creative differences or a desire to work on their own projects 78 These included Takahashi and Tanaka 78 Fujioka 52 Nishi 79 Kikuta 59 Mitsuda 80 and Mana artist Shinichi Kameoka 81 In April 2000 Suzuki was appointed Square s new President while Takechi became a company chairman Also at this time two outside directors were appointed Kenichi Ohmae of Ohmae amp Associates and Makoto Naruke of Microsoft The corporate reshuffle was intended to strengthen Square s overseas connections and bring in technical and administrative support for future digital and online content 20 Alongside this Yoichi Wada joined the company as a company director and eventually COO 82 In August 2000 Square was listed on Tokyo Stock Exchange s first section which includes the largest companies on the exchange 7 83 2000 2003 The Spirits Within final years edit In addition to leading production on Final Fantasy IX 2000 Sakaguchi also worked at the 1997 established Square Pictures studio on a Final Fantasy feature film 8 84 Called Final Fantasy The Spirits Within it was planned as Sakaguchi s first push towards cross media storytelling however the project ran over budget and ended up costing Square and co producer Columbia Pictures US 137 million 28 85 Upon its release in 2001 The Spirits Within was met with mixed critical reception and grossed only 85 million Labeled as a box office bomb the film damaged Square s finances and led to the closure of Square Pictures 8 Following both the failure of The Spirits Within and a delay to Final Fantasy X 2001 for the PlayStation 2 Square suffered a financial loss for the first time prompting Sakaguchi Takechi and director Masatsugu Hiramatsu to resign from their positions 8 86 Sakaguchi was kept on as executive producer for Final Fantasy while Takechi and Hiramatsu were retained as external consultants 86 This period left Sakaguchi in a state of low morale 87 In late 2001 Suzuki stepped down as President and was replaced by Wada 88 Yosuke Matsuda became Senior Vice President 82 Kenji Ito also left during this period to work as a freelance composer 60 Prior to the film s release rival company Enix was proposing merging with another game company to alleviate development costs opening serious discussions with Square in 2000 89 90 Square s financial losses with The Spirits Within prompted Enix to halt discussions 90 Under Wada the company underwent restructuring with the intent of streamlining production and resources and cutting development costs to increase profits 91 After evaluation of its financial position and with changes to the console war due to Microsoft s Xbox Square opened talks with Nintendo for the first time since their breakup in the 1990s 92 93 The talks were successful with Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles beginning development for the GameCube in late 2001 93 94 Square also began production on Final Fantasy X 2 the first direct sequel to a Final Fantasy game 91 95 96 Final Fantasy X 2 was Sakaguchi s last credited project at Square and he left the company in 2003 97 Around this time Square also began development on Kingdom Hearts 2002 with Nomura making his directorial debut The game was a collaboration between Square and The Walt Disney Company blending Disney characters with Final Fantasy elements in an original story 98 99 Kingdom Hearts was Shimomura s last project as an in house composer before going freelance in 2002 100 Also released in 2002 was the Japanese version of Final Fantasy XI the company s first MMORPG 101 73 Conceived by Sakaguchi it was developed by the Chrono team and led by Ishii 73 Final Fantasy XI and its first expansion was Kato s last work for Square before leaving in 2002 to go freelance 102 Following the commercial success of Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts Square and Enix resumed talks and agreed to merge their two companies Wada described it as a merger of two companies at their height 103 Despite this the merger had its skeptics particularly Miyamoto who did not want to see his controlling stake diluted in a merged company 31 Miyamoto s issue was resolved by altering the exchange ratio to one Square share for 0 81 Enix shares and the merger was greenlit 104 Square Enix was formed on April 1 2003 with Enix as the surviving corporate entity and Square dissolving its departments and subsidiaries into the new company 104 105 Around 80 of Square s staff transitioned into Square Enix 106 Square s last release was the Japanese version of X 2 107 Structure editDevelopment structure edit See also Localization of Square Enix video games During reports on the merger with Enix Takashi Oya of Deutsche Securities contrasted Enix s tradition of outsourcing development versus Square s approach to developing everything by itself 108 When Square was founded in the early 1980s there was no set development structure with the ten person staff freely shifting between roles and projects This eventually evolved into two loosely defined production groups led by Sakaguchi and Tanaka respectively 5 Following the release of Final Fantasy IV Sakaguchi divided the production team assigning different staff members to the Final Fantasy SaGa and Mana series 46 A secondary studio was founded in Osaka in 1990 with Final Fantasy Legend III 1991 as their first project 109 By 1997 the company was divided into eight development divisions with two based in Osaka 110 In 1998 the old development divisions were restructured into Production Departments and the Osaka branch was closed down 111 The system was reshuffled again in 2002 to promote greater understanding and allow for reassignment between divisions 112 Among the heads of divisions at this time were Kitase Kawazu Tanaka Matsuno and Hirata 112 Following the merger with Enix the eight divisions were incorporated into the new company with two additional divisions brought in from Enix 113 Square initially did not have an internal localization department instead outsourcing to a number of translators 114 Following the release of Final Fantasy VII which saw criticism for its localization Square created an internal department to encourage higher quality 115 Initially having only two employees it grew steadily over the years 116 Individual games still ran into difficulties due to their large text sizes difficulties translating some culture specific elements potential censorship and the introduction of voice acting with games including Final Fantasy X 115 117 118 Notable localization staff included Kaoru Moriyama 114 Ted Woolsey 119 Michael Basket 115 Richard Honeywood 115 and Alexander O Smith 117 Publishing and subsidiaries edit See also List of Square video games nbsp The logo of SquareSoft Inc While Square self published the majority of its games in Japan 1 4 by contrast their Western presence during the 80s and early 90s was small 25 RPGs were not popular in the North American market at that time and Square s presence in Europe was limited 25 119 The original Final Fantasy was published in North America in 1990 by Nintendo of America near the end of the life cycle of the Nintendo Entertainment System resulting in its two sequels being passed over for localization at that time 120 121 After opening their North American offices Square began publishing selected titles under the SquareSoft brand 1 122 123 One of their third party North American releases was the original Breath of Fire by Capcom who were busy enough to outsource publishing and localization to Square 119 124 Many Square titles remained exclusive to Japan for reasons including design complexities low graphical quality and technical difficulties 119 125 126 In the 1990s Square s first six PlayStation releases were published by Sony as part of a contract between the two companies 8 Eidos Interactive notably handled the Windows ports of Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII 127 128 In Europe Square s local branch self published a number of games including mainline Final Fantasy titles 129 It also partnered with third party companies including Eidos Crave Entertainment and Infogrames for either publishing or distribution of different titles 128 130 131 In 1989 Square established SquareSoft in Redmond Washington to provide development and publishing support in the West As Square moved its projects to PlayStation in 1994 SquareSoft moved to Marina del Rey California while changing its name twice in one year to Square LA followed by Square USA 1 8 9 Square USA would notably develop Secret of Evermore 40 In 1997 a second Square USA branch was opened in Honolulu Hawaii to focus on new interactive entertainment research 132 going on to help with CGI development on Parasite Eve and Final Fantasy IX 133 Square Europe was founded in 1998 in London England focusing on publishing in Europe 1 9 A publishing brand called Aques was established by Square in 1996 The name was an anagram of Square s name as well as an acronym for Advanced QUality Entertainment and Sports representing the company s diversification outside of role playing games 134 That same year Square established a distribution company called DigiCube with convenience stores as their main strategy 1 135 The subdidiary expanded into book publishing stocked games from other companies and at one point published games under its own brand 136 137 138 DigiCube survived the Square Enix merger though it declared bankruptcy in 2004 after years of declining sales 139 135 In 1999 Square created a number of subsidiaries with dedicated roles Square Visual Works to focus on producing CGI animation Square Sounds for music and sound effects Squartz for quality control and user support and Square Next to support smaller game projects 1 9 Following the success of Final Fantasy VII in 1997 Sakaguchi founded a dedicated CGI film studio called Square Pictures in Hawaii his aim was to both develop The Spirits Within and help with further development of Square s CGI technology 8 84 By the end of 2001 Square Pictures was dissolved and merged into Visual Works 139 Square USA s Hawaiian branch developed the CGI short Final Flight of the Osiris that later formed part of the 2003 anthology film The Animatrix 140 The branch was shut down in 2002 following a failed attempt to find a film studio partner 141 In 2002 Square Next was rebranded as The Game Designer Studio with ownership between Square s Product Development Division 2 and Kawazu The aim was to allow for development of games for Nintendo consoles without impacting production on Sony platform games 92 93 142 The Game Designers Studio was absorbed back into Square Enix after the completion of Crystal Chronicles first renamed to SQEX Corporation and eventually dissolved entirely in 2010 143 144 145 Square Sounds was dissolved into the main company in March 2002 as an internal division a move attributed to cost cutting 146 All the other subsidiaries were folded into Square Enix during the merger with Visual Works becoming its own dedicated department 139 On May 1 1998 Square formed a joint venture partnership with Electronic Arts Square Electronic Arts published Square titles in North America while Electronic Arts Square published Electronic Arts titles in Japan 1 147 The partnership emerged the year following Electronic Arts winding down a similar partnership with Victor in December 1997 148 Shares were distributed between the two on a 70 30 basis relating to their role Square Electronic Arts had Square owning 70 while Electronic Arts owned 30 127 Electronic Arts Square would also develop the PlayStation 2 launch title X Squad 149 In March 2003 coinciding with the Square Enix merger both ventures were dissolved with each partner buying the other s shares In its February press release Square described the joint venture as a success 150 The Square side of the venture was rebranded under the Square Enix name 139 Affiliates and acquisitions edit Between 1986 and 1988 Square led a collective of game developers dedicated to the production of games for the Famicom Disk System The Square owned label called Disk Original Group DOG included Square HummingBirdSoft System Sacom Microcabin Carry Lab Thinking Rabbit and Xtalsoft This coalition was able to pool financial resources allowing them to overcome the prohibitive costs of acting individually 21 151 152 The Famicom Disk System was rendered defunct by 1988 due to increased storage capacity in standard Famicom ROM cartridges 152 In January 1994 Square acquired developer Cobra Team turning it into a subsidiary called Solid and focusing their work on cooperating with external developers 1 153 In 1995 Square established DreamFactory as an affiliate studio which developed fighting based titles for the PlayStation and PS2 DreamFactory became an independent company in 2001 after Square transferred their shares 154 155 Square later founded subsidiary Escape in March 1998 with staff from DreamFactory It only produced Driving Emotion Type S 2000 before being liquidated in 2003 139 156 The company held a stake in Bushido Blade developer Lightweight founded in 1995 157 158 It sold that stake to software company Forside in 1999 159 160 Front Mission developers G Craft had a close relationship with Square who provided funds and production resources Square bought out G Craft and incorporated it in 1997 during production of Front Mission 2 71 Other affiliates associated with Square between the early 1990s to 2000 were font company Kusanagi and developers Positron and Luciola 160 161 In 2002 Ogre Battle developer Quest Corporation withdrew from game development and was bought by Square Absorbed and repurposed into a production division their first project was Final Fantasy Tactics Advance 2003 162 163 164 Related studios editMany Square employees went on to found notable development studios and other ventures 78 165 Nishi founded Love de Lic in 1995 producing three games including Moon Remix RPG Adventure Love de Lic staff went on to found other small studios including Skip Ltd Chibi Robo and Punchline Rule of Rose 53 79 166 Frustrated with Square s rigid hierarchy Kikuta founded Sacnoth in 1997 which would become known for the Shadow Hearts series 78 59 he left Sacnoth in 1999 following the release of his project Koudelka and founded the music label Nostrilia 59 167 Several Xenogears developers including Takahashi and Tanaka founded Monolith Soft in 1999 in order to pursue projects outside the Final Fantasy series developing more games using the Xeno prefix 78 168 Kameoka and other developers who worked on Legend of Mana 1999 founded Brownie Brown in 2000 Brownie Brown later worked with Square Enix on Sword of Mana 2003 a remake of Final Fantasy Adventure 81 169 Also in 2000 Mizuno founded AlphaDream engaging Fujioka and going on to develop the Mario amp Luigi series 52 170 Staff members from Square Pictures including The Spirits Within co director Motonori Sakakibara established Sprite Animation Studios in 2002 171 172 After his resignation from Square Takechi founded music label Dreamusic in 2001 with Kazunaga Nitta 26 Mitsuda founded the music studio Procyon in 2001 so he could work while maintaining his health 80 After stepping down as president in 2001 Sakaguchi experienced a period of low morale before returning to game development founding Mistwalker in 2004 87 The studio became known for the Blue Dragon and Terra Wars series as well as stand alone projects such as Lost Odyssey and The Last Story 28 78 87 References edit a b c d e f g h i j k l m 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History PDF Stanford University Archived from the original PDF on November 20 2012 Retrieved September 2 2011 External links editSquare Co Ltd Official website archives Wayback Machine Square Soft Inc Official website archives Square USA Official website archives History of Enix and Square Square Enix s site Archived May 30 2007 at the Wayback Machine Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Square video game company amp oldid 1217701372 Electronic Arts Square, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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