Enix
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| Enix Corporation (株式会社エニックス Kabushiki-gaisha Enikkusu?) | |
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| Type | Public (defunct) |
| Founded | September 22, 1975 |
| Headquarters | Tokyo, Japan |
| Key people | Keiji Honda, President Yasuhiro Fukushima, Founder and CEO |
| Industry | Software & Programming & Publishing |
| Products | Dragon Quest video game franchise Star Ocean video game franchise |
| Revenue | N/A |
| Employees | N/A |
| Website | www.square-enix.co.jp www.square-enix.com www.square-enix-europe.com |
The Enix Corporation (株式会社エニックス Kabushiki-gaisha Enikkusu?) was a company that produced Japanese video games and manga. The company was founded by Yasuhiro Fukushima on September 22, 1975 as Eidansha Boshu Service Center (株式会社営団社募集サービスセンター Kabushiki Gaisha Eidansha Boshū Sābisu Sentā?) and renamed Enix in 1982.[1] The company merged with Square Co. in 2003 to become Square Enix.
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[edit] History
Enix began its foray into the gaming market in 1982 by holding a personal computer game programming contest.[2] One of the winners was the puzzle game Door Door, created by Koichi Nakamura, would go on to become one of the company's better known home computer titles. The game was subsequently ported to the Nintendo Famicom, but never saw any form of release outside of Japan. Nakamura would stay onboard as one Enix's key programmers.[2]
Over the next few years, Enix published several video games for various Japanese home computer systems.[2] However, Enix is perhaps most famous for publishing the Dragon Quest series of console games (released as Dragon Warrior in North America until 2005) developed by Chunsoft. The developer's staff consisted of key members of Enix including Koichi Nakamura, writer Yuuji Horii, artist Akira Toriyama, and composer Koichi Sugiyama, among others. The first game in the Famicom-based RPG series was released in 1986 to astounding praise and healthy sales.
Other popular games published by Enix include Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, and Terranigma, all developed by Quintet, and the Star Ocean series developed by tri-Ace. Enix usually held the entire copyright for these games but sometimes the development company did as well as Enix. The company also published manga, most notably the Fullmetal Alchemist series, from its shonen magazine Monthly Shōnen Gangan.
A merger between Enix and its competitor Square was in consideration since at least 2000. Despite Enix's profound advertisment of Dragon Quest VII in 1999, the game was delayed numerous times. Although its sales were ultimately good, its success did not contribute to the fiscal year 1999, cutting the company's profit-to-sales ratio in half from 1998 and dropping its stock value by 40% in the early 2000.[3][2] The financial failure of the Square's 2001 feature film Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within made Enix hesitant to join with a company that loses money.[4] The merge was delayed until April 1, 2003, when Enix merged with Square Co., Ltd., and as the surviving entity became the modern day company Square Enix.[1]
[edit] Subsidiaries
Enix America Corporation was the corporation's first American localization subsidiary. It was organized after the release of Dragon Warrior by Nintendo of America in 1989. The subsidiary came into existence in 1990, but closed in November 1995 when the parent company decided to no longer release products in North America.[5]
Enix America, Inc., Enix's last American localization subsidiary, was organized in 1999 after the release of Dragon Warrior Monsters through a joint venture with Eidos.[1] Paul Handelman, who was part of Enix America Corporation's staff, returned to lead Enix America, Inc. as President. The corporation was in existence until 2003, ceasing to exist after the merger with Square Co., Ltd.[6]
[edit] List of games
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Square Enix. Square Enix History (timeline). Square-Enix.com.
- ^ a b c d Fujii, Daiji (January 2006). "Entrepreneurial choices of strategic options in Japan's RPG development" (pdf). . Faculty of Economics, Okayama University Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
- ^ IGN staff (April 28, 2000). Dragon Quest VII Sells Like Crazy. IGN.com. Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
- ^ Long, Andrew (2003). Square-Enix Gives Chrono Break Trademark Some Playmates. RPGamer.com. Retrieved on 2008-06-01.
- ^ "Enix on a Quest", Nintendo Power #80, Nintendo, 1996, p. 58. Retrieved on 2008-05-18.
- ^ Stone, Cortney (2003). Enix America Shuts Down. RPGamer.com. Retrieved on 2007-09-11.
[edit] External links
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