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Enix was founded on September 22, 1975, as Eidansha Boshu Service Center by Japanese architect-turned-entrepreneur Yasuhiro Fukushima. [7] [8] Enix focused on publishing games, often by companies who exclusively partnered with the company.
Nov 25, 2022 · Square Enix, the juggernaut Japanese publisher that we all know today, was pretty much birthed on this date 20 whole years ago. As the name suggests, it was a merger between Square and Enix — two...
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Enix was the older of the two merging companies, and it found success earlier. Founded in 1975 by Yasuhiro Fukushima as the Eidansha Boshu Service Center, it changed its name to Enix Corporation in 1982, just before it entered the video game market.
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. [105] [106] Around 80% of Square's staff transitioned into Square Enix. [107] Square's final release was the Japanese version of X-2. [108]
- Overview
- [edit] Corporate history
- [edit] Business model
- [edit] Properties
- [edit] Subsidiaries
- [edit] Reviews and rating
- [edit] References
- [edit] External links
Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. (株式会社スクウェア・エニックス・ホールディングス, Kabushiki-gaisha Sukuwea Enikkusu Hōrudingusu?) TYO: 9684 is a Japanese video game and publishing company best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Final Fantasy series, the Dragon Quest series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series.
Square Enix was formed as the result of a merger between Square Co. and the Enix Corporation. The merger occurred in April 1, 2003, with Square stockholders receiving 0.89 shares of stock in the new company compared to Enix stockholders receiving a one-to-one trade. At the time, 80% of Square Enix staff were made up of former Square Co. employees. As part of the merger, many of the top officials within Square Co. assumed the leadership roles in the new corporate hierarchy, including president Yōichi Wada, who was appointed president of the corporation. The original founder of Enix, Yasuhiro Fukushima, is currently the largest shareholder of the corporation.
See also: Square (company)#History and Enix#History*April 1, 2003 - Square Enix formed in a merger between Square Co., Ltd. and the Enix Corporation.
•July 2003 - Square Enix relocated its headquarters to Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo.
•March 2004 - Square Enix acquired UIEvolution, Inc. in order to strengthen its wireless market.
•January 2005 - Square Enix founded Square Enix (China) Co., Ltd (China), expanding their interests in the People's Republic of China (The company also has a controlling interest in Community Network Software Engine of Beijing, China which focuses on network middle-ware for gaming)
•August 22, 2005 - Square Enix announced its acquisition of the gaming developer and publisher, Taito Corporation, renowned for their arcade hits, Space Invaders and the Bubble Bobble series.
•September 28, 2005 -The acquisition of Taito is completed.
See also: Localization of Square Enix video gamesThe business model of Square Enix is centered on the idea of "polymorphic content", which consists in developing franchises on all potential hardware or media rather than being restricted by a single gaming platform. An early example of this strategy is Enix's Fullmetal Alchemist manga series, which has been adapted into two anime TV series, a movie and several novels and video games. Other polymorphic projects include Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Code Age, World of Mana, Ivalice Alliance and Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy XIII. According to Yoichi Wada, "it's very difficult to hit the jackpot, as it were. Once we've hit it, we have to get all the juice possible out of it".
The standard game design model of Square Enix is to establish the plot, characters and art of the game first. Battle systems, field maps and cutscenes are created next. A typical game of the company involves a team of at most 200 people. Square Enix doesn't usually use other companies' engines, preferring to code from scratch. According to Taku Murata, Square Enix has settled into this game making model since Square's Final Fantasy VII in 1997 and did not try other approaches since, as Enix did not have any internal development studio. Similar to Sony's Greatest Hits program, Square Enix sometimes re-releases games under the Ultimate Hits label, a designation given to games that have achieved a certain level of sales, at a reduced retail price.
[edit] Video games
Main articles: List of Square Enix games, List of Taito games, and List of Eidos gamesCover of Dragon Quest VIII. The Dragon Quest series is one of Square Enix's most valuable assets.Square Enix's main concentration is on video gaming. Of its properties, the Final Fantasy franchise is the best-selling of Square-Enix's properties, with total worldwide sales of over 80 million units as of 2007. Square Enix's Dragon Quest franchise is considered the third most popular game series in Japan after Mario and Pokémon, and new installments regularly outsell other games at the times of their release.[citation needed] Of the 53 million units of games in the series sold so far, about 49.7 million have been from Japan, and about 2.4 million have been from North America. More recently, Square Enix's Kingdom Hearts series (developed in collaboration with Disney's Buena Vista Games) has become popular. In early 2003, Square Enix's U.S. subsidiary registered the Dragon Quest trademark, retiring the Dragon Warrior moniker, which was necessitated in 1989 due a trademark conflict with the now defunct TSR, Inc.. In May 2004 Square Enix announced an agreement with Sony Online Entertainment for the Japanese publishing rights to EverQuest II. Square Enix has produced or is producing titles for most major consoles beginning with the Nintendo Entertainment System, though never on a Sega platform. Square Enix has historically developed exclusively for certain consoles. The company developed its flagship games almost exclusively for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, PlayStation, and PlayStation 2 in their respective eras. However, Square Enix is not developing all of its major titles for one console exclusively in the seventh generation, as they have done in the past, but instead released the next major installment in the Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy XIII on both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in North America and Europe, and has recently announced that Dragon Quest X will be released on the Wii. Square Enix has developed titles for handheld game consoles, including the Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS and PlayStation Portable. In addition, they have published games for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers, and for various models of mobile phones. Square Enix mobile phone games are available on the Vodafone network in some European countries, including Ireland, Great Britain, Spain, and France. Twenty-seven Square-Enix games were included in Famitsu magazine's 'Top 100 Games Ever', seven being in the top ten list, with Final Fantasy X claiming the number one position. Before its launch, Michihiro Sasaki, senior vice president of Square Enix, spoke about the PlayStation 3, saying "We don't want the PlayStation 3 to be the overwhelming loser, so we want to support them, but we don't want them to be the overwhelming winner either, so we can't support them too much." Square Enix continued to reiterate their devotion to multi-platform publishing in 2007, promising more support for the North American and European gaming markets where console pluralism is generally more prevalent than in Japan. Their interest in multi-platform development was made clear in 2008 when the previously PlayStation 3-exclusive game Final Fantasy XIII was announced for release on the Xbox 360. In 2008 Square Enix and Gas Powered Games announced partnership on the game Supreme Commander 2. On July 8, 2008, Square Enix released their first game for the iPod, Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes. Also in 2008, Square Enix made a new brand for kids gaming, known as Pure Dreams. Its purpose is to create games suitable for kids. The brand is now planning more games. Pure Dreams have just completed their first two games, Snoopy DS: Let's Go Meet Snoopy and His friends (released in Japan on October 9, 2008) and Pingu's Wonderful Carnival (released in Japan on November 6, 2008). Both games are planned for a US release. Also hidden from the existence Square-Enix is currently working a hidden project. Fortress is the codename of a video game being developed as a spin-off of Square Enix's Final Fantasy series. It is envisioned as an action game set in the fictional world of Ivalice, and is intended for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows platforms. Although not yet officially announced, the project's existence was revealed after the closure of the original developer, GRIN, by former members of the development team and sources in the video game industry. In 2009, Square Enix acquired Eidos, the company responsible for popular game series such as Tomb Raider and Hitman, as well as the publishing of the Windows versions of Final Fantasy VII and VIII. Square Enix has absorbed Eidos into a new division called Square Enix Europe. Future Eidos games will be published by Square Enix.
[edit] Online gaming
Before the merger, Enix published its first online game Cross Gate in Japan, mainland China, and Taiwan in 2001 and Square release Final Fantasy XI in Japan on May 16, 2002 for the PlayStation 2. With the huge success after Square Enix released Final Fantasy XI worldwide in March 2004, Microsoft had the game ported into the Xbox 360 two years later, making it the first Final Fantasy game ever to be on the Xbox console. Due to the success of their MMORPG, Square Enix began a new project called Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion. GamePot, a Japanese game portal, got the license to publish Fantasy Earth in Japan and it was released in Japan as "Fantasy Earth ZERO." In November 2006, however, Square Enix dropped the Fantasy Earth Zero project, giving acquisition to GamePot. A next-gen MMORPG code named Rapture is currently in development by the Final Fantasy XI team using the company's Crystal Tools engine. It was unveiled at E3 2009 that the MMO, Final Fantasy XIV, for PlayStation 3 and Microsoft Windows, will be released in September 30, 2010. A code to have a chance to be included in the Final Fantasy XIV beta was included with the PS3 version of Final Fantasy XIII. Also included is a code for an in-game item upon the release of Final Fantasy XIV.
[edit] Other media
The company has made two forays into the film industry. The first, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within (2001), was produced by Square subsidiary Square Pictures prior to the merger (Square Pictures is now a consolidated subsidiary of Square Enix). Its box-office failure caused Enix to delay the merger, which was already considered before the creation of the film, for fear of associating itself with a company that loses money. In 2005, Square Enix released Final Fantasy VII Advent Children, a CGI-animation movie based on the PlayStation game Final Fantasy VII, set two years after the events of the game. The company also has a manga publishing division in Japan (originally from Enix) called Gangan Comics, which publishes content for the Japanese market only. Titles published by Gangan Comics include Black God, Papuwa, Pani Poni, Spiral, He is My Master, Yumekui Kenbun, Doubt, Bamboo Blade, Pandora Hearts. Black Butler, Soul Eater, Zombie Loan, Fullmetal Alchemist, and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Other titles include manga adaptations of diverse Square Enix games, like Dragon Quest, Kingdom Hearts and Star Ocean. Some of these titles have also been adapted into anime series. so far is the most successful offspring of Square Enix's manga branch, with more than 30 million volumes sold in Japan alone. The anime series obtained great popularity and even spawned a movie sequel. Both series and movie are licensed to many locations worldwide (in North America by FUNimation Entertainment). The same occurs with its manga series, licensed in North America by Viz Media. Kingdom Hearts and Spiral were licensed in North America by Tokyopop; Tokyopop dropped Spiral, but the title was later licensed again by Hachette's Yen Press, which has licensed other Square Enix titles including Soul Eater, Bamboo Blade and Higurashi no Naku Koro ni. Other titles like Soul Eater, Sekirei, Bamboo Blade and Shikabane Hime also were adapted to TV and licensed to other countries, including a second Fullmetal Alchemist anime series which debuted on Japanese television in 2009 and America on adult swim in 2010.
•Square Enix Co., Ltd. (Japan, Headquarters) •Square Enix, Inc.(North America) •Square Enix Ltd. (Europe/ PAL areas) •Square Enix Europe
•Beautiful Game Studios
•Crystal Dynamics
•Eidos Montreal
•Eidos Shanghai
•IO Interactive
•The company won IGN's award for Best Developer of 2006 for the PlayStation 2.
•Square Enix's North American subsidiary, Square Enix, Inc., joined The Better Business Bureau in July 2007 and was assigned a rating of "C++". The BBB rating has since been upgraded to "A+".
1.^ a b c d "History". Square Enix Holdings. http://www.square-enix.com/eng/company/history3.html. Retrieved 2009-12-04.
2.^ "Gamasutra - News - Interview: Challenges And Opportunities Abound For New Square Enix U.S. President". Gamasutra. 2010-08-02. http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/29690/Interview_Challenges_And_Opportunities_Abound_For_New_Square_Enix_US_President.php. Retrieved 2010-08-05.
3.^ a b "Square Enix financials falter on DQIX delay". Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.. 2010-02-08. http://www.square-enix.com/10q3earnings.pdf. Retrieved 2010-03-11.
4.^ "Corporate Profile". Square Enix Holdings. http://www.square-enix.com/eng/company/outline.html. Retrieved 2009-12-04.
5.^ Corporate Strategy meeting regarding Eidos integration
6.^ "Interview: Square Enix's National Manager of Merchandise, Kanji Tashiro". Anime News Network. http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/interview/2008-08-03/square-enix-national-manager-of-merchandise-kanji-tashiro. Retrieved 2008-08-04.
May 21, 2018 · What started as a one-man company back in 1986 under the name Square Co. Ltd has now become one of the largest game developers in Japan and one of the most well known the world over. Square...
Jan 3, 2017 · A Brief History of a Company Called Square Enix. The times haven’t always been kind to the studio once known as SquareSoft, the very company that many remember as the reason why they first dove into the world of JRPG’s. A company that, as the originator of gems such as Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Xenogears, Kingdom Hearts and even Final ...
