Curated category
Video game companies of Japan
- HexaDriveMasakazu Matsushita established HexaDrive in February 2007 within Osaka, Japan. He arrived at this decision after years of work as a programmer for Capcom.
- M2 (game developer)M2 is a Japanese video game developer and publisher whose work touches nearly every major classic gaming franchise you can name.
- SegaSega is a Japanese video game company whose history reads like a map of the entire industry's evolution. It began not with video games at all, but with slot…
- Polygon MagicPolygon Magic is a Japanese video game developer with a catalogue spanning arcade cabinets, home consoles, handheld systems, mobile social platforms, and…
- DimpsDimps, a Japanese video game developer based in Osaka, built its reputation on some of the most beloved franchises in gaming history.
- System SacomSystem Sacom, also known as System Sacom Sales Corp., operates from an office in Tokyo. This Japanese electronics company sells electronic devices to the…
- Sony Interactive EntertainmentSony Interactive Entertainment began as a joint venture between Sony and Sony Music Entertainment Japan, founded in Tokyo in 1993 to do something neither…
- Team NinjaTeam Ninja was born out of a financial crisis. In the mid-1990s, the Japanese gaming company Tecmo was struggling to stay solvent, and management made a…
- Kojima ProductionsKojima Productions exists twice. Once as a name inside Konami, and once as a name on the door of an independent studio in Shinagawa, Tokyo.
- Koei TecmoKoei Tecmo is one of Japan's most storied video game holding companies, born from a merger that almost did not happen. In August 2008, a rival corporation…
- NintendoNintendo was founded on the 23rd of September 1889, not as a game company, but as a playing card business. Craftsman Fusajiro Yamauchi set up shop in…
- Yuke'sYuke's Co. Ltd. began life in Osaka in 1993 with a name borrowed from a high school nickname. Founder Yukinori Taniguchi established the company on the 26th…
- KodanshaKodansha, the largest publisher in Japan, began not as a publishing house but as a spin-off of a public speaking society.
- Kadokawa ShotenGenyoshi Kadokawa established Kadokawa Shoten on the 10th of November 1945 in Tokyo. The company began its publishing journey with a specific imprint called…
- Nihon FalcomNihon Falcom takes its name from a science fiction film. The founders wanted to evoke the Millennium Falcon, but changed the final "n" to an "m" to match the…
- Square EnixSquare Enix was born from the union of two companies that had long watched each other across Japan's video game landscape.
- SNKSNK began not as a video game company but as Shin Nihon Kikaku, a small Japanese firm founded in 1973 by Eikichi Kawasaki.
- Sammy CorporationSammy Corporation began its life not as a gaming company, but as a spin-off of an arcade division. On the 1st of November 1975, a manufacturing and marketing…
- Good Smile CompanyGood Smile Company sells some of the most recognizable figurines in the world, yet the company began not as a toy manufacturer but as an event management and…
- KonamiKonami began life on the 21st of March 1969 as a jukebox rental and repair shop in Toyonaka, Osaka. Three men started it together, two of whom had met while…
- Pony Canyonthe 1st of October 1966 marked the founding of Nippon Broadcasting System Service, Inc. by Nippon Broadcasting System, Inc.
- NamcoNamco started with two hand-cranked rocking horses on a department store rooftop in Yokohama. Masaya Nakamura, the son of a shotgun repair business owner…
- CapcomCapcom sits behind some of the most recognizable titles in video game history. Resident Evil, Street Fighter, Monster Hunter, Mega Man, Devil May Cry, and…
- GainaxGainax began not in a studio but at a science fiction convention in Osaka in 1981, where a group of university students screened a rough animated short they…
- FromSoftwareFromSoftware, Inc. began life not in the world of dragons and darkness, but in the far more prosaic territory of business software.
- ASCII CorporationASCII Corporation was a Japanese publishing company based in Chiyoda, Tokyo, and its story begins with an unusual origin: it started not as a publisher, but…