Square Enix

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Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd.

logo
legal form Kabushiki-gaisha (joint stock company)
ISIN JP3164630000
founding September 22, 1975 (Enix)
April 1, 2003 (Square Enix (old))
October 1, 2008 (Square Enix (new))
Seat JapanJapan Shinjuku , Tokyo
management Yasuhiro Fukushima (Chairman)
Yosuke Matsuda (President)
Number of employees 3,581
sales 155 billion yen (1.21 billion euros)
Website www.square-enix.com
As of March 31, 2014

Company headquarters in Tokyo

Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. ( Japanese 株式会社 ス ク ウ ェ ア ・ エ ニ ッ ク ス , Kabushiki-gaisha Sukuwea Enikkusu , English Square Enix Company, Limited ) is a Japanese manufacturer of video games and manga . Square Enix became famous for its console role-playing games , including the series Final Fantasy , Dragon Quest and Kingdom Hearts . Since taking over the British publisher Eidos Interactive , the company has also owned the Tomb Raider , Hitman and Deus Ex brands .

The holding company Square Enix Holdings ( 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 ), to which Square Enix, Taito and other companies belong, has consolidated over 3000 billion employees in the fiscal year to March 1, 2014 and continued to have 155 billion 21 billion euros).

history

Square Enix was created on April 1, 2003 from the merger of the developer studios Square and Enix . Although Square was officially merged into Enix, a number of high-ranking Square employees took over leadership positions in the new company, including Square President Yōichi Wada , who was appointed President of Square Enix.

Square Enix has several regional companies including Square Enix, Inc. (serving North America ) and Square Enix Ltd. (responsible for Europe and other PAL areas). In July 2003, Square Enix moved to its headquarters in Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo . In March 2004, Square Enix acquired UIEvolution, Inc. to further establish itself in the wireless communications market. In January 2005, Square Enix established Square Enix (China) Co., Ltd. in Beijing , China . as a subsidiary. On August 22, 2005, Square Enix announced that it would buy the Taito, known for arcade games like Space Invaders and Bubble Bobble . On September 28, 2005, Taito was completely absorbed by Square Enix.

On October 1, 2008, the company introduced the holding system. Therefore, KK Square Enix was renamed KK Square Enix Holdings and then the games, content and publishing divisions were spun off as a new company, KK Square Enix, where it shares management and offices with the holding company.

In September 2008, Square Enix intended to take over the Japanese game developer Tecmo , but the attempt failed. In February 2009, Square Enix made a takeover bid for Eidos, plc (previously SCi Entertainment) and its subsidiary Eidos Interactive . The company also included the development studios Crystal Dynamics ( Tomb Raider ), IO Interactive ( Hitman ) and Eidos Montreal ( Deus Ex , Thief ). Square Enix therefore offered 84.3 million British pounds (about 93.2 million euros) for the western publisher. The Eidos shareholders accepted the offer on March 27, 2009 and sealed the takeover. Eidos was merged with the European headquarters of Square Enix to form Square Enix Europe, under the direction of the previous Eidos managing director Phil Rogers.

In April 2010, Square Enix introduced a new game label called Square Enix Extreme Edge for the first time in Famitsu, Japan . From now on, Square Enix games that have an increased potential for violence and are only approved for ages 17 and up in Japan will appear under this label. This is particularly true of games from the former publisher Eidos, which Square Enix has been distributing in Japan since the takeover.

In March 2013, Square Enix had to announce exceptionally high losses in its annual report. Among other things, the titles Sleeping Dogs , Hitman: Absolution and Tomb Raider had missed their sales targets, instead of 3.5 billion yen, the balance was a loss of 13.5 billion yen. As a result, Square Enix CEO Yoichi Wada resigned from his post. Wada justified his resignation with the aim of enabling the company to undertake the urgently needed restructuring measures. His successor was Yosuke Matsuda.

In April 2014, Sony, formerly the third largest shareholder in Square Enix, decided to sell all of its remaining shares in the group to the Japanese investment group SMBC Nikko Securities.

Business units

  • Square Enix Co., Ltd. (Shinjuku, Tokyo)
  • Square Enix, Inc. (El Segundo, USA)
  • Square Enix Ltd., usually called Square Enix Europe (London)
  • Square Enix (China) Co., Ltd. (Beijing)
  • Square Enix Mobile (Hokkaido)
  • Taito (Shinjuku, Tokyo)
  • Shinra Technologies, Inc. (Shinjuku, Tokyo & New York), cloud gaming service
  • Smile-Lab Co., Ltd. (Shibuya, Tokyo)

In addition, Visual Works, a division of Square Enix Japan specializing in CGI film productions , will also appear in public. Originally founded as Square Visual Works, it produces trailers and pre-rendered cutscenes for the computer games for the entire Square Enix group. The studio was also responsible for the production of the CGI feature film Final Fantasy VII: Advent Children .

Products

Computer and video games

Square Enix's greatest asset are their video games. Square Enix's Dragon Quest - franchise is considered widely as the most popular game series in Japan and regularly occupies the top of the Japanese sales charts. Of the total of 43 million units of the franchise sold worldwide, 40 million were sold in Japan. In contrast, the Final Fantasy franchise is considered Square Enix's premier asset and is Square Enix's top-selling Square Enix franchise with over 80 million units worldwide. Another franchise is the Kingdom Hearts series developed together with Disney's Buena Vista Interactive .

Square Enix has released games for the Sony PlayStation 2 , PlayStation 3 , PlayStation 4 , Nintendo's Wii and GameCube , Game Boy Advance , Nintendo DS , PlayStation Portable and the Microsoft Xbox 360 . In addition to games for Microsoft Windows , Square Enix has also published games for various mobile phone models.

25 Square Enix games were voted one of the top 100 games by Famitsu readers, seven of them in the top ten.

Video game franchises

Movie

Manga

Square Enix has Enix Manga - Imprint Gangan Comics taken. This publishes only for the Japanese market, including the manga anthology Gekkan Shōnen Gangan . Titles released by Gangan Comics include Detective Loki , Fullmetal Alchemist , Akame ga Kill! , Kingdom Hearts , Nagasarete Airantō , Shao, the Moon Fairy , Soul Eater , Spiral - Dangerous Truth and The Royal Tutor .

In autumn 2010, a digital distribution for manga was started in North America and France with different offers. The North American distribution is being created in cooperation with Viz Media and Yen Press . In 2019, an agreement was reached with Penguin Random House, through which Mangas, but also novels and art books, have been published by Square Enix directly in the USA since autumn 2019.

Web links

Commons : Square Enix  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f Corporate Profile. Square Enix Holdings, accessed March 11, 2015 .
  2. ^ History. Square Enix Holdings, accessed May 10, 2011 .
  3. ↑ 会 社 概要 . Square Enix, accessed May 10, 2011 (Japanese).
  4. ↑ Square Enix bids for Eidos (February 12, 2009)
  5. ↑ Eidos shareholders approve Square Enix buyout
  6. ^ Square Enix Europe Formed ( Memento of May 24, 2013 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ Goodbye Eidos, hello Square Enix Europe ( Memento from January 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Square Enix introduces a new game label  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (Final-Fantasy-Future.de)@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / final-fantasy-future.de  
  9. ^ Square Enix: Yoichi Wada resigns after disappointing fiscal year
  10. ↑ Square Enix: CEO Yoichi Wada resigns (jpgames.de)
  11. ↑ Sony is selling its Square Enix shares ( http://www.Playstation-Choice.de )
  12. ↑ Gematsu: Square Enix announces Shinra cloud gaming service (September 18, 2014)
  13. ^ A Glance at Square Enix 'Motion Capture Studio Visual Works ( Memento of March 24, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  14. ↑ Final Fantasy's Cinematic Mastermind On Making Advent Children And FFXV's Cutscene Balance
  15. ↑ RELIVE THE BIRTH OF A PHENOMENON WITH FINAL FANTASY & FINAL FANTASY II. Games Press, December 19, 2007, archived from the original ; accessed on May 30, 2020 (English).
  16. ↑ Colin Campbell: Japan Votes on All Time Top 100 ( Memento from June 2, 2006 in the Internet Archive ) from next-gen.com. March 3, 2006. (Last checked on August 24, 2006.)
  17. ↑ Square Enix Plans E-Manga Store in N. America, France (Updated). In: Anime News Network. July 21, 2010, accessed July 22, 2010 .
  18. ↑ Square Enix Launches English Manga Imprint in Fall 2019. In: Anime News Network. May 17, 2019, accessed May 30, 2020 .