Natsume Inc. is an American company that publishes video games. It was first created in 1988 as a part of Natsume Co., Ltd. In 1995, it became its own separate company.
Natsume Inc. is based in Burlingame, California. It is most famous for publishing special games that are enjoyed by families, such as Harvest Moon and Reel Fishing. In 2013, Natsume Inc. started a new division in Japan called Natsume Inc. Japan. This division is not related to Natsume Atari, the company it once belonged to.
History
Natsume Inc. was started as an American part of Natsume Co., Ltd. in San Francisco, California in May 1988.
From the end of the Super NES video game system era until late 2014, Natsume Inc. published the Story of Seasons games in North America under the name Harvest Moon. The last game it published was Harvest Moon: A New Beginning for the Nintendo 3DS. In 2015, the game’s developer, Marvelous, released the next game in the series, Story of Seasons, in North America through its own US branch, Xseed Games. This ended the partnership between Marvelous and Natsume Inc. After this, Natsume Inc. released its own games under the Harvest Moon name, beginning with Harvest Moon: The Lost Valley, followed by Harvest Moon: Seeds of Memories and Harvest Moon: Skytree Village. In 2013, Natsume Inc. opened a development studio in Japan, named Natsume Inc. Japan.
Natsume Inc. also operated an eBay shop, selling sealed copies of older games collected from storage at its offices. At an auction, the company sold a sealed copy of Pocky & Rocky for more than $1,600.
Works
These games are either published by Natsume Inc. or created by a company in Japan that is owned by Natsume Inc. after Natsume Inc. became separate from Natsume Co., Ltd. Most of these games were only available in North America through Natsume Inc., but some were also available in Europe under the Natsume name because Natsume Inc. made agreements with European companies to distribute them. Additionally, some digital versions of these games were released directly by Natsume Inc. in Europe.