Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd. is a Japanese company that owns other businesses, publishes video games, and operates in the entertainment industry. It creates and releases popular role-playing game series, including Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest, and Kingdom Hearts, along with many others. In addition to making and publishing video games, the company also sells merchandise, manages arcade game centers, and publishes manga through its Gangan Comics brand.

The company was originally formed in April 2003 when two companies, Square and Enix, merged. Enix remained the main company after the merger. For every share of Square, people received 0.85 shares of Enix. At that time, 80% of Square Enix employees were former Square workers. Yoichi Wada, who was the president of Square, became the president of the new company, while Keiji Honda, the former president of Enix, became vice president. Yasuhiro Fukushima, the largest owner of the combined company and founder of Enix, became chairman. In October 2008, Square Enix separated its business operations into two parts: a holding company called Square Enix Holdings Co., Ltd., and a subsidiary called Square Enix Co., Ltd. The company has offices in Los Angeles, Beijing, Paris, Hamburg, and London in the United States, China, Europe, and other regions.

Several of Square Enix’s game series sold more than 10 million copies worldwide after 2020. Final Fantasy sold 173 million copies, Dragon Quest sold 85 million copies, and Kingdom Hearts sold 36 million copies. In 2005, Square Enix bought Taito, an arcade company. In 2009, Square Enix acquired Eidos plc, the parent company of Eidos Interactive, which became part of its European branch. The company is based in the Shinjuku Eastside Square Building in Shinjuku, Tokyo, and has another office in Osaka. Square Enix employs more than 5,000 people worldwide through its main operations and other companies it owns.

Corporate history

Enix was founded on September 22, 1975. It was originally called Eidansha Boshu Service Center and started by Yasuhiro Fukushima, a Japanese architect who became an entrepreneur. Enix focused on publishing games, often working with companies that partnered exclusively with it. In the 1980s, Enix partnered with Chunsoft to publish the Dragon Quest series of console games.

Key members of the developers included director Koichi Nakamura, writer Yuji Horii, artist Akira Toriyama, and composer Koichi Sugiyama. The first game in the Famicom-based RPG series, called Dragon Warrior, was released in 1986. It sold 1.5 million copies in Japan and became Enix's most profitable franchise. Despite news that Enix's competitor, Square, would develop only for PlayStation, Enix announced in January 1997 that it would release games for both Nintendo and Sony consoles. This caused a significant rise in stock prices for both Enix and Sony. By November 1999, Enix was listed in the Tokyo Stock Exchange's first section, which means it was classified as a "large company."

Square was started in October 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto as a computer game software division of Den-Yu-Sha, a power line construction company owned by his father. At that time, game development was usually done by one programmer, but Miyamoto believed it would be more efficient to have teams of graphic designers, programmers, and story writers work together.

In September 1986, the division became an independent company led by Miyamoto, officially named Square Co., Ltd. After releasing several unsuccessful games for the Famicom, Square moved to Ueno, Tokyo, in 1987 and developed Final Fantasy, a role-playing game inspired by Enix's success with Dragon Quest in 1986. Final Fantasy sold over 400,000 copies and became Square's leading franchise, leading to many games in the series.

Because of Final Fantasy's success, Square created other notable games, such as Chrono, Mana, Kingdom Hearts (with The Walt Disney Company), and Super Mario RPG (with Nintendo). By late 1994, Square was known for making high-quality role-playing games. Square planned to develop games for the Nintendo 64, but because making games for CD-based consoles like the Sega Saturn and PlayStation was cheaper, Square chose to develop games for those systems. Final Fantasy VII was one of these games and sold 9.8 million copies, becoming the second-best-selling game for the PlayStation.

A merger between Square and Enix was considered starting in 2000. However, Square's first film, Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, failed financially in 2001, which made Enix hesitant to proceed. At the same time, Square faced record losses. Square then asked Sony for financial help, and Sony bought an 18.6% stake in Square on October 8, 2001. After the success of Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts, Square's finances improved, and it recorded its highest operating margin in 2002. On November 25, 2002, Square and Enix announced they would merge to reduce costs and compete with foreign developers. Square's president, Yoichi Wada, said, "Square has also fully recovered, meaning this merger is occurring at a time when both companies are at their height."

Some shareholders were concerned about the merger, especially Miyamoto, who would own a smaller share of the combined company. Takashi Oya of Deutsche Securities doubted the benefits of the merger, saying, "Enix outsources game development and has few in-house creators, while Square does everything by itself. The combination of the two provides no negative factors but would bring little in the way of operational synergies." Miyamoto's concerns were resolved by

Corporate structure

On October 1, 2008, Square Enix became a holding company and was renamed Square Enix Holdings. At the same time, its development and publishing businesses were moved to a new company called Square Enix. This new company shared the same leaders and offices as Square Enix Holdings. The main offices for both companies are located in the Shinjuku Eastside Square Building in Shinjuku, Tokyo.

Today, Square Enix operates in several different areas. It has five Creative Business Units focused on making and producing video games. It also has a separate team for publishing manga and books, a division for its online store and merchandise, a unit for music, concerts, and visual content like movies and animations, and a division for blockchain technology.

After a merger in 2003, Square Enix’s development team was divided into eight Square and two Enix Product Development Divisions. Each division worked on different types of games. These divisions were based in different cities, such as Osaka and Tokyo.

In March 2007, the development department changed from the Product Development Division system to a project-based system. Until 2013, teams working on the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series were still called the 1st Production Department. This department was formed in 2010 by combining Square Enix’s Tokyo and Osaka studios, with Shinji Hashimoto as a top leader.

In December 2013, Square Enix reorganized its development into 12 Business Divisions. In 2017, Business Division 9 was merged into Business Division 8, and Business Divisions 11 and 12 became the new Business Division 9. A new Business Division 11 was also created using some staff from Business Division 6.

In 2019, Square Enix combined all its Business Divisions into four Creative Business Units. Creative Business Unit 1 was led by Yoshinori Kitase, Unit 2 by Yu Miyake, Unit 3 by Naoki Yoshida, and Unit 4 by Kei Hirono.

In April 2024, Square Enix changed its structure again, moving away from the Creative Business Unit system to a new Creative Studio system.

• Creative Studio 1 is led by Yoshinori Kitase and Naoki Hamaguchi. They work on projects like the Final Fantasy VII and Kingdom Hearts series.
• Creative Studio 2 is led by Yoshinori Kitase, with Motomu Toriyama and Shinpei Yashima as deputies. They work on games like the SaGa series.
• Creative Studio 3 is led by Naoki Yoshida. They work on games like Final Fantasy XIV and Final Fantasy XVI.
• Creative Studio 4 is led by Yosuke Saito.
• Creative Studio 5 is led by Tomoya Asano, with Masashi Takahashi as a deputy. They work on HD-2D games, the Bravely series, Dragon Quest titles, and the Paranormasight series.

After the merger, Square Enix focused on creating content across different media, such as games, movies, and books. An example of this is the Fullmetal Alchemist manga, which became anime, movies, and video games. Other projects include the Compilation of Final Fantasy VII, Code Age, World of Mana, Ivalice Alliance, and Fabula Nova Crystallis Final Fantasy subseries. Yoichi Wada said that once a successful project is created, the company tries to use it in as many ways as possible. Like Sony’s Greatest Hits program, Square Enix also sells its best-selling games at lower prices under the "Ultimate Hits" label.

Square Enix’s standard game design process starts by creating the story, characters, and artwork. Then, battle systems, maps, and cutscenes are added. This method became the company’s standard after the success of Final Fantasy VII in 1997. The team for Final Fantasy XIII had up to 180 artists, 30 programmers, and 36 game designers. Later, the company adjusted its process to outsource some large-scale development tasks.

Business

Square Enix focuses mainly on making video games, especially role-playing games. Its most famous series is Final Fantasy, which started in 1987. As of March 2022, more than 173 million copies of Final Fantasy games have been sold worldwide. Another popular series is Dragon Quest, which began in 1986. It has sold over 85 million copies globally and is very popular in Japan. The Kingdom Hearts series, created with Disney starting in 2002, has sold 36 million copies as of March 2022. Other well-known series include SaGa (nearly 10 million copies sold since 1989), Mana (over 6 million since 1991), and Chrono (over 5 million since 1995). Many Square Enix games have received high praise. In 2006, 27 of its games were listed in Famitsu magazine's "Top 100 Games Ever," with Final Fantasy X ranked number one. Square Enix also won IGN's Best Developer award in 2006 for PlayStation 2 games.

Square Enix originally made games for Nintendo consoles but now creates games for many different systems. During the seventh generation of consoles, it released games for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii. It also made games for handheld devices like Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, PlayStation Portable, Nintendo 3DS, and PlayStation Vita. Square Enix has published games for personal computers and mobile phones. Its mobile games were first available in 2004 on Vodafone networks in Europe.

Before the PlayStation 3 launched, Michihiro Sasaki, a senior leader at Square Enix, said the company wanted to support the console but not make it too dominant. In 2007, Square Enix promised to support North American and European markets more, where many different consoles are used. This was shown in 2008 when Final Fantasy XIII was released on Xbox 360, in addition to PlayStation 3.

In 2008, Square Enix made its first game for the iPod called Song Summoner: The Unsung Heroes. It also created a brand for younger children called Pure Dreams, with games like Snoopy DS: Let's Go Meet Snoopy and His Friends! and Pingu's Wonderful Carnival. After buying Eidos in 2009, Square Enix combined it with its European team to form Square Enix Europe, which continues to publish games like Tomb Raider (88 million sales) and Deus Ex (4 million sales). From 2009 to 2024, Square Enix was the Japanese publisher for Activision Blizzard and Ubisoft. In 2022, Square Enix sold some of its European assets, including Tomb Raider and other Eidos games, to Embracer Group for $300 million.

Square Enix owns many game series, including:

• Former Square series like Mana
• Former Enix series like Star Ocean
• Series it created, like Drakengard
• Quest series like Ogre
• Taito series like Space Invaders
• Crystal Dynamics series like Gex
• Eidos Interactive series like Just Cause
• Games made by Square Enix America, like Quantum Conundrum
• Series made by Square Enix Europe, like Life Is Strange

In 2004, Square Enix started developing a "common 3D format" to make game development easier across platforms. This led to the creation of Crystal Tools, a game engine compatible with PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Windows PCs, and the Wii. Crystal Tools was used for Final Fantasy XIII and Final Fantasy XV. It was later improved for Final Fantasy XIII-2 and Lightning Returns: Final Fantasy XIII. No new games have used Crystal Tools since its last major update.

Luminous Engine was designed for eighth-generation consoles and was first shown in 2012. It was used to make Final Fantasy XV, which helped improve the engine's performance. Square Enix also uses other engines like Unreal Engine 3, Unreal Engine 4, and Unity for games like Dragon Quest XI and I Am Setsuna.

Before merging with Enix, Square made Final Fantasy XI, a popular online game. It was later released on Xbox 360 as the first MMORPG on that console. Square Enix created PlayOnline, a service used for many of its online games. After the success of Final Fantasy XI, Square Enix started a new project called Fantasy Earth: The Ring of Dominion, which was later sold to GamePot. It also released Concerto Gate, a sequel to Cross Gate, in 2007.

A new MMORPG called Final Fantasy XIV was developed using Crystal Tools. It was released in 2010. Dragon Quest X, another MMORPG, was made for Wii and Wii U and used Crystal Tools as well. Square Enix also made browser games like Legend World and Chocobo's Crystal Tower, and games for Yahoo! Japan like Monster x Dragon and Bravely Default: Praying Brage.

In 2013, Dragon Quest X was released on iOS and Android in Japan. In 2014, it was also released on Nintendo 3DS. In 2012, Square Enix partnered with Bigpoint Games to create a free-to-play game, though the project was not completed.