Taito

For the ward in Tokyo, see Taitō, Tokyo. For other uses, see Taito (disambiguation).
Taito Corporation
Native name
 株式会社タイトー
Kabushiki gaisha
Subsidiary
Industry Video game industry
Arcade industry
Founded August 24, 1953 [1] (as Taito Trading Company)
June 22, 1999 [2]
(SQEX Corporation)
June 1, 2009 [3] (as ES1 Corporation)
Founder Michael Kogan
Headquarters Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan
Key people
 Koichi Ishii[4]
(President)
Yukio Lizawa
(Honorary Chairman)
Products Arkanoid series
Bubble Bobble series
Cooking Mama series
Darius series
Gunslinger Stratos series
Lufia series
Psychic Force series
Rakugaki Ōkoku series
Space Invaders series
Owner Independent company (1953–1986)
Kyocera
(1986–2005 as a minority shareholder)
Square Enix (2005– present)
Number of employees
 615 (March 31, 2015)
Parent Square Enix Holdings
Website taito.com

The Taito Corporation (株式会社タイトー Kabushikigaisha Taitō) (commonly referred to as Taito) is a Japanese video game developer and publisher of arcade hardwares and mobile phones, and an operator of video arcades. It is also a former publisher of home video games.

Taito is wholly owned by Square Enix Holdings. Despite Taito being a wholly owned subsidiary to Square Enix Holdings, the parent company has kept the branding of Taito entirely distinct from Square Enix.[5]

Taito is known for producing hit arcade games, such as Space Invaders and Bubble Bobble. It has produced arcade games all around the world, while also importing and distributing American coin-op video games in Japan. Taito owns several arcades in Japan known as Taito Stations or Game Taito Stations.

Taito has its headquarters in the Shinjuku Bunka Quint Building in Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo,[6] sharing the facility with its parent company.[7][8] In the past, the company had operated divisions in North America, Brazil, South Korea, Italy, the United Kingdom and Beijing, China.

History

The company was founded in 1953 by a Russian Jewish businessman named Michael Kogan as Taito Trading Company (株式会社太東貿易 Kabushiki-gaisha Taitō Bōeki). Taito started out importing and distributing vending machines. It was also the first company to distill and sell vodka in Japan.[9] Later, it began leasing jukeboxes and eventually started to manufacture its own. Taito began producing electro-mechanical arcade games in the 1960s.

Taito changed its name from Taito Trading Company to Taito Corporation in August 1972 and introduced its first video arcade game in 1973. Several of its early arcades games saw release in America by Midway, a Chicago area-based arcade manufacturer with strong ties to Taito. In 1978 Toshihiro Nishikado, a designer at Taito, created Space Invaders which became the company's most popular title ever and one of the most memorable games in arcade history, responsible for beginning the golden age of arcade video games.

Taito opened in 1973 its Taito America division.[10] In its first years, Taito America's sole purpose was to handle the licensing of Taito's video games to American third party publishers. It wasn't until the late 1970s that Taito America began to self-publish Taito's video games in North America. Initially based in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, Taito America relocated to nearby Wheeling in 1985. While the majority of Taito America's catalog were titles that were originally released in Japan by its parent company, it did also publish video games licensed from third-party companies, as well as games that were developed in the United States for Taito.

In April 1986 and barely a month after becoming part of the Kyocera group, Taito merged with two of its subsidiaries, Pacific Industrial Co., Ltd. and the Japan Vending Machine Co., Ltd, and absorbed them both.[11] Japan Vending Machine was once an independent company but was purchased by Taito in July 1971 to strengthening its presence in the operation of amusement facilities.[1] Pacific Industrial was created by Taito itself in 1963 to develop products for the company.[1]

In May 1988, Taito Software, the division of Taito America responsible for non-arcade operations, opened its own office in North Vancouver, British Columbia. While manufacturing and distribution of Taito arcade video games in North America continued to be handled in Wheeling, the North Vancouver unit became in charge of releasing video games for Nintendo's products and the computer market. However, by early 1991, the Vancouver location had completely shut down, and publishing of home video games returned in Wheeling.

Taito America ceased operations in July 1996 after more than 20 years of existence.[11] Video games from Taito Corporation are still available in North America; however, they now bear the name of other publishers. Similarly, a division existed in London, England in the United Kingdom to distribute Taito games in Europe. Taito (Europe) Corporation Limited was created in 1988 and liquidated in February 1998. [11]

Taito has many well known arcade video games. Space Invaders (1978) is probably the most notable, but games such as Speed Race (1974), Gun Fight (1975), Qix (1981), Jungle Hunt (1982), Elevator Action (1983), Buggy Challenge (1984), Bubble Bobble (1986), Takeshi no Chōsenjō (1986), Chase H.Q. (1988), Puzznic (1989), Kick Master (1992), Gun Buster (1992) and Puzzle Bobble (1994) are all part of Taito's library. Taito also had a license from Hanna-Barbera to do games based on The Flintstones and The Jetsons.

Several of Taito's video games that were released for the Famicom and the Super Famicom in Japan were a joint venture with Disco Corporation. Disco Corporation was established in July 1972 by Taito as a subsidiary to import and sale home electronic products.[11] As of 2003, Disco's main activities were the development, sales and handling of licenses of computers, peripheral devices and software.[12]

In 1992, Taito announced a CD-ROM-based console system named WOWOW,[13] that would have allowed people to play near-exact ports of Taito's arcades (similar to the Neo Geo), as well as download games from a satellite transmission (as the Satellaview would do later). It was named after the Japanese television station WOWOW and would have utilized its stations to download games. The WOWOW was never released.

Taito Ebina Development Center in Ebina, Kanagawa Prefecture

When Taito was owned by Kyocera, its headquarters were in Hirakawachō, Chiyoda.[14]

Taito entered the Tokyo Stock Exchange in January 1993, listed in the Second Section. It transitioned to the First Section in September 2003.

In October 2000, Taito merged with Kyocera Multimedia Corporation to enter the market of mobile phones for the first time . [1][15]

On August 22, 2005, it was announced that gaming giant Square Enix would purchase 247,900 Taito shares worth ¥45.16 billion (US$409.1 million), to make Taito Corporation a subsidiary of Square Enix.[16] The purpose of the takeover by Square Enix was to both increase Taito's profit margin exponentially as well as begin its company's expansion into new forms of gaming (most notably, the arcade scene), and various other entertainment venues. The takeover bid from Square Enix was accepted by previous stockholder Kyocera, making Taito an official Square Enix subsidiary. On September 22, 2005, Square Enix announced successfully acquiring 93.7% of all shares of Taito, effectively owning the company by September 28, 2005 .[17][18] By March, 2006 Taito became a subsidiary wholly owned by Square Enix and was delisted from the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.[2]

Square Enix officially announced on July 28, 2008 that it would liquidate two subsidiaries of Taito, Taito Art Corporation (an insurance and travel agent subsidiary) and Taito Tech Co., Ltd. (a amusement and maintenance subsidiary) on the grounds that both had fulfilled their business purpose. The process officially ended in October 2008.[19]

Portrait of founder Michael “Misha” Kogan - By Daniel Baharier

In February 2010, Taito's unit for home video games split into a separate company called Taito Soft Corporation (not to be confused with Taito Software, the North American division of the late 1980s).[2] On March 11, 2010, Taito Soft was folded into Square Enix.[20] All of Taito's franchises for video game consoles in Japan are now published by Square Enix though these games continue to feature the Taito logotype and copyright.

Company transformations

Taito Corporation has incarnated three different companies over the course of its existence. Two mergers (in 2006 and 2010) were achieved in order to adapt to the business requirements of its parent company, Square Enix.

First company: Taito Corporation (1953–2006)

The company was originally founded as "Taito Trading Company". In 1972, the name of the company was changed to "Taito Corporation" which has remained Taito's legal name ever since.

Second company: Merger of Taito and SQEX Corporation (2006–2010)

In March 2006, Square Enix, which already owned 93% of the company, wanted to make Taito a wholly owned subsidiary.[2] To accomplish this goal, Square Enix merged Taito with SQEX Corporation.[2] Although the combined company took on the name "Taito Corporation", it was actually Taito that was dissolved and SQEX that was the surviving entity.[2]

SQEX was established on June 22, 1999 under the name Game Designers Studio as a shell corporation of the defunct Square Co, Ltd. It was renamed to SQEX Corporation in 2005 once Square Co, Ltd merged with Enix and purchased the company as a subsidiary. Game Designer Studios was used by Square Co, Ltd in order to evade an exclusivity deal to develop for Sony PlayStation as Sony Corp had an 18.6% stake in Square Co Ltd.[21]

Third company: Taito and ES1 merging as Taito Corporation (2010–present)

Square Enix Holdings wanted all of its arcade operations to be consolidated into one subsidiary. And so, the third and present Taito Corporation came to being on February 1, 2010 by merging Taito Corporation (formerly SQEX/Game Designers Studio) with ES1 Corporation.[3] In an "absorption-type company split" move, Taito Corporation (the second company) was spun-off as a separate company and renamed Taito Soft Corporation, while ES1 Corporation was renamed "Taito Corporation" (the third company).[3]

During the merger with Taito Corporation (the second company) to become itself the new Taito Corporation, ES1 inherited all of Taito's arcade business and nearly the totality of its employees.[3] On the other hand, Taito Soft Corporation (formerly SQEX) was left with 10 employees to concentrate exclusively on the development and publishing of video games for home consoles.[3] Taito Soft Corporation was eventually merged into Square Enix in March 2010 and dissolved.

ES1 Corporation was established on June 1, 2009 as an operator of arcade facilities.[3] ES1 Corporation was owned by SPC1, itself a wholly owned subsidiary of Square Enix Holdings.[3] SCP1 was dissolved when ES1 Corporation re-branded as Taito Corporation in February 2010.[3]

As such, the current iteration of Taito Corporation is technically the company formerly called ES1 Corporation. [3]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Taito Corporate History". Taito Corporation.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "Square Enix To Make Taito A Wholly-Owned Subsidiary" (PDF). Square Enix Co., Ltd. 12 December 2005. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Notice of an Absorption-type Company Split Between Taito Corporation and ES1 Corporation" (PDF). Square Enix Holdings. 27 November 2009. Retrieved 1 November 2016.
  4. ↑ "Square Enix Holdings Announces Management Changes of Taito Corporation" (PDF). Square Enix Co., Ltd. 29 February 2016. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
  5. ↑ "Revitalizing The Legacy: An Interview With Taito's Keiji Fujita". Gamasutra.
  6. ↑ "Company Overview." Taito Corporation. Retrieved on January 30, 2011. "Head Office 15F, Shinjuku Bunka Quint Bldg,3-22-7 Yoyogi,Shibuya-ku,Tokyo 151-8648,JAPAN."
  7. ↑ "Corporate Profile." Square Enix Corporation. Retrieved on January 30, 2011. "Headquarters Shinjuku Bunka Quint Bldg. 3-22-7 Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku,Tokyo 151-8544, Japan."
  8. ↑ "Map." Square Enix Corporation. Retrieved on January 30, 2011. "Location Shinjuku Bunka Quint Bldg. 3-22-7 Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-8544, Japan."
  9. ↑ "Looking At Taito's history As They Turn 60". August 13, 2003. Retrieved 2015-09-13.
  10. ↑ "The Golden Age Arcade Historian - Video Game Firsts". All In Color For A Quarter. 23 November 2013.
  11. 1 2 3 4 "Taito History". Sanbou. 2002.
  12. ↑ "Disco and Wirebee Collaborate to Deliver Superscape Swerve 3D Applications to Japanese Mobile Marketplace". Superscape. 5 March 2003.
  13. ↑ Hernandex, Christopher. "Taito WoWoW". PSXFantatics.com. Archived from the original on 2003-03-21. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  14. ↑ "Company Outline." Taito Corporation. January 11, 1998. Retrieved on January 30, 2011 "Head Office 2-5-3 Hirakawa-cho,Chiyoda-ku,Tokyo 102,JAPAN." Address in Japanese: "東京都千代田区平河町二丁目５番３号"
  15. ↑ http://www.kyocera.co.jp/ir/pdf/semi_ar2001.pdf
  16. ↑ Jenkins, David (August 22, 2005). "Square Enix Makes Bid For Taito". Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  17. ↑ Carless, Simon (September 22, 2005). "Square Enix Nears Takeover Of Taito". Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  18. ↑ Klepek, Patrick (September 28, 2005). "Square Enix Swallows Taito". Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  19. ↑ "Notice regarding Dissolution and Liquidation of Subsidiaries" (PDF). Square Enix Co., Ltd. 28 September 2008. Retrieved 28 September 2008.
  20. ↑ "Taito Corporation - Notice of Inquiry Change". Taito Corporation. 2006. Retrieved 11 March 2010.
  21. ↑ "IGN - Sony buys stake in Square". IGN.com. Retrieved 2013-12-25.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 12/5/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.