Square (video game company)

The Disk Original Group (DOG) was a union formed of no less than seven Japanese video game companies: Square Company, Limited, Micro Cabin, Thinking Rabbit, Carry Lab, System Sacom, XTALSOFT, and HummingBirdSoft. Founded July 14, 1986, Square took the lead in this alliance to produce games on the Famicom Disk System. Because Square headed DOG, all DOG titles were published under the name Square. In reality, however, Square only produced four of the eleven games published under the DOG label. Excluding Tobidase Daisakusen (The 3-D Battles of WorldRunner in North America) which sold 500,000 copies, the remaining 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.) in Asia. It declared bankruptcy 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. Once Square merged with Enix, Square Visual Works was renamed Visual Works and produces CG animations for Square Enix and Eidos Interactive intellectual properties.

Quest Corporation logo

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 Sony PlayStation, including Final Fantasy Tactics and Vagrant Story. In June 2002, Quest was acquired by Square.[22]

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 a shell corporation founded in June 1999 by Square. It was re-purposed in 2002 in order to create video games for the Nintendo GameCube, even though Square had an exclusive deal with Sony Computer Entertainment to create games only for PlayStation consoles at the time.[23] To evade that deal, Square held only 49% of the shares while Akitoshi Kawazu, head of Square's Product Development Division-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 was de facto developed by Square Enix's Product Development Division-2 with publishing by Nintendo.[24] Square merged with Enix in 2003 and formed Square Enix while Crystal Chronicles was in development. Square Enix later acquired 100% of Game Designers Studio and renamed it to SQEX Corporation. After the takeover of Taito Corporation in 2005, Square Enix merged it with SQEX in March 2006.[25] The merged subsidiary took on the Taito Corporation name, but SQEX Corporation was the surviving company. On February 1, 2010, it was renamed to Taito Soft Corporation and dissolved on March 11, 2010, effectively ending the company that started out as The Game Designers Studio.[26][27]

Square Soft, Inc. was established as the 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, including Capcom's Breath of Fire for the SNES. It developed the game Secret of Evermore for the SNES.

Unlike its Japanese parent company or other subsidiaries (such as Square USA), Square Soft was never dissolved and is currently known as Square Enix, Inc.[28][29][30] Square Soft's original headquarters were in Redmond, Washington.[31] Square Enix, Inc. is currently located in El Segundo, California.[32]

Square USA, Inc. (originally Square L.A., Inc.) was established in August 1995. It operated as a high-end computer-generated imagery research and development studio, and was integral in the production of graphics for Square-produced games since the beginning of the 32-bit era. Its headquarters were in Los Angeles, California and Honolulu, Hawaii. Like sister company, Square Soft, Inc., Square USA was a wholly owned subsidiary of Square Co., Ltd.

Square Europe, Limited was established in December 1998 to localize and market Square-developed games in Europe and Australia. Located in London, UK, Square Europe was granted exclusive publishing rights in Europe and other PAL territories for all interactive entertainment titles developed by Square.

Square Pictures was located in Honolulu, Hawaii and specialized in computer-animated films for Square. They started in 1997,[33] with the goal to eventually "incorporate the movie division's technical advances into its games, spinning a cycle of creativity with games inspiring movies that in turn improve games."[34] In 1998, Square partnered with Sony/Columbia to bring a full-length Final Fantasy movie to theaters "in the ambitious goal to be the first to simulate human emotions and movements through computer graphics."[35] and in late 2000, the film was revealed as Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. Sony released the film on July 11, 2001, to mixed reviews and lower-than-expected box office numbers. It was considered a commercial flop, losing an estimated $94 million.[36][37]

Square Pictures also created a short film for the Wachowskis that was a prequel to The Matrix Reloaded, titled 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 on June 3, 2003 as part of The Animatrix. Square Pictures is now a consolidated subsidiary of Square Enix as Visual Works.[38]

Electronic Arts Square, K.K. (エレクトロニック・アーツ・スクウェア株式会社, Erekutoronikku Ātsu Sukuwea Kabushiki-gaisha) was a joint venture between Square and U.S. video game publisher Electronic Arts responsible for publishing EA's games in Japan. Square Electronic Arts, LLC was another joint venture between the two companies responsible for publishing Square's games in North America. Announced on April 27, 1998,[39] Square EA was based in Costa Mesa, California and operated under the supervision of Square president and CEO Jun Iwasaki. 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 video game market. During its five-year run, EA Square handled the Japanese releases of games such as The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Quake III: Team Arena, SSX and its sequel SSX Tricky, and various video games based on the Star Wars franchise. EA Square had also developed a game, X-Squad, which was released for the PlayStation 2 during its launch.

Following the announcement of the merger between Square and former competitor Enix in 2003, Square purchased back Electronic Arts' stake in Square EA, and folded it back into Square Soft, Inc., its North American subsidiary, which was subsequently renamed Square Enix U.S.A., Inc. (now Square Enix, Inc.) and continues to publish Square Enix's titles in North America. Conversely, EA did the same with Square's stake in EA Square, which was subsequently renamed Electronic Arts K.K., and continues to publish EA's titles in Japan.