31 Facts About Square Pictures

Square Pictures was initially established in September 1983 as a software subsidiary of electric power conglomerate Den-Yu-Sha, a company led by Kuniichi Miyamoto.

Square Pictures's first attempt at a game, and Sakaguchi's first project, was an adaptation of the television game show Torin-ingen.

Square Pictures's first completed game was The Death Trap for NEC PC-8801, which was the first title published under the Square Pictures brand.

Square Pictures's first Famicom release was a port of Thexder, and its first original game was King's Knight.

Square Pictures supported Nintendo's Famicom Disk System, though few of the games created for it were major successes and Square Pictures was struggling financially.

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In 1990, Square Pictures moved its offices to the Akasaka district, and then to Ebisu, Shibuya in 1992.

At that time, Square Pictures drew some of its development funding from loans from Shikoku Bank.

Takechi's secondment lasted until 1994, by which time Square Pictures had annual sales worth ¥16 million per year, and he had become inspired by Sakaguchi's vision for the company.

Square Pictures's increasing corporate involvement lessened his creative input, prompting him to give greater influence to director Yoshinori Kitase.

Square Pictures developed several notable standalone titles including Chrono Trigger, born from a collaboration between Sakaguchi, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii, and Dragon Ball artist Akira Toriyama; Super Mario RPG, produced in collaboration with Nintendo using characters from the Mario franchise; and the Western-exclusive Secret of Evermore.

The music staff of Square Pictures expanded, with four more composers being hired between 1990 and 1993.

In 1995, Square Pictures moved its headquarters to the Shimomeguro district in Meguro.

Square Pictures began work on PlayOnline, an online platform which would host the company's online store and web content as well as online services for their games.

Square Pictures began development on Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles for the GameCube in late 2001.

The merger resulted in Square Pictures Enix being formed on April 1,2003, with Enix as the surviving corporate entity and Square Pictures dissolving its departments and subsidiaries into the new company.

In 1997, a second branch of Square Pictures USA was opened in Honolulu, Hawaii to focus on new interactive entertainment research.

Square Pictures Europe was founded in 1998 in London, England, focusing on publishing in Europe.

Square Pictures partnered with several different distribution partners in Europe, including Crave Entertainment, Infogrames, and Ubisoft.

Many other Square Pictures titles remained exclusive to Japan, for reasons including design complexities, low graphical quality, and technical difficulties.

Between 1986 and 1988, Square Pictures led a collective of game developers dedicated to the production of games for the Famicom Disk System.

The Square Pictures-owned label, called Disk Original Group, included Square Pictures, HummingBirdSoft, System Sacom, Microcabin, Carry Lab, Thinking Rabbit and Xt ft.

In 1995, Square Pictures helped establish DreamFactory as an affiliate studio, which developed fighting-based titles for the PlayStation and PS2.

Square Pictures held a stake in Bushido Blade developer Lightweight, until it was bought out by Genki.

Square Pictures produced only one more feature following The Spirits Within; a CGI short called "Final Flight of the Osiris" that later formed part of the 2003 anthology film The Animatrix.

In 2002, Square Pictures Next was rebranded as The Game Designer Studio, with ownership between Square Pictures's Product Development Division 2 and Kawazu.

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Square Pictures Sounds was dissolved into the main company in March 2002 as an internal division, a move attributed to cost cutting.

In January 1994, Square Pictures acquired developer Cobra Team, turning it into a subsidiary called Solid and focusing their work on cooperating with external developers.

Square Pictures bought out G-Craft and incorporated it in 1997 during production of Front Mission 2.

Kikuta, frustrated at the rigid hierarchy of Square Pictures, left and founded Sacnoth in 1997, which would become known for the Shadow Hearts series; he left Sacnoth in 1999 following the release of his project Koudelka and founded the music label Nostrilia.

Staff members from Square Pictures, including The Spirits Within co-director Motonori Sakakibara, established Sprite Animation Studios in Hawaii in 2002.

Square Pictures founded Mistwalker in 2004, which has since produced series such as Blue Dragon and Terra Wars and standalone projects such as Lost Odyssey and The Last Story.