Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. is a Japanese company that develops and adapts video games, focusing on role-playing games, visual novels, and adventure games. The company was established in 1984 as Chunsoft Co., Ltd. and joined with Spike in 2012. It is currently owned by Dwango.
As Chunsoft, the company created games such as the first five Dragon Quest games and the Mystery Dungeon series. As Spike Chunsoft, it developed the Conception series. It also made games like the Sound Novel series, which includes Otogirisō, Kamaitachi no Yoru, Machi, and 428: Shibuya Scramble, as well as the Zero Escape series. The company also ported The Portopia Serial Murder Case for the Famicom system. Before joining with Chunsoft, Spike developed Danganronpa.
History
Chunsoft was founded by Koichi Nakamura. The "Chun" in the company name comes from the first kanji, Naka (中), in the founder's name. In Japanese Mahjong, Naka is pronounced "Chun." This name also appeared in Nakamura's first game with Enix, titled Door Door, released in 1983. Otogirisō marked Chunsoft's first brand. Later, games like Torneko no Daibōken: Fushigi no Dungeon, Kamaitachi no Yoru, and Shiren the Wanderer helped build the company's reputation. Nakamura had to leave programming to manage the company.
At one point, Chunsoft's products were considered not very good. However, the game 3-Nen B-Gumi Kinpachi Sensei: Densetsu no Kyoudan ni Tate! became a hit and showed improvement. During the development of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team and Blue Rescue Team, programmer Kouji Malta, who had previously worked on EarthBound and Shiren the Wanderer 2, noted that the company faced financial difficulties. Many employees left during this time. The game's success helped increase the popularity of the Mystery Dungeon series and saved Chunsoft from bankruptcy. In 2005, Chunsoft was bought by Dwango and became a subsidiary of the company.
Before this, Sega helped Chunsoft develop and release games for the Dreamcast. From 2005 to 2010, Sega and Chunsoft collaborated on a project called "SEGA×CHUN PROJECT." Their goal was to support and fund game development, such as the Nintendo DS remake of Mystery Dungeon: Shiren the Wanderer and 428: Shibuya Scramble.
In 2012, Chunsoft merged with its sister company Spike, forming a new company called Spike Chunsoft.
In 2017, Spike Chunsoft created a North American subsidiary in Long Beach, California. This subsidiary handled localization and publishing of Spike Chunsoft's games, as well as games from its sister company 5pb./Mages under a new partnership. Their first game under this partnership was the Microsoft Windows version of Steins;Gate, which Spike Chunsoft took over from Mages in 2018. Since then, the company has continued publishing other games in the Science Adventure series, including Steins;Gate 0 and Chaos;Child.
On July 16, 2020, NIS America announced that Danganronpa games would be removed from the PlayStation Store. Spike Chunsoft then announced on July 22, 2020, that it would take over publishing the Danganronpa series outside Japan. Similarly, the Nintendo Switch and Microsoft Windows versions of Shiren the Wanderer: The Tower of Fortune and the Dice of Fate would be published by Spike Chunsoft's subsidiary instead of Aksys.
Works
This table lists video games published worldwide by Spike Chunsoft, Inc., the American branch of Spike Chunsoft. The company has been publishing games since December 1, 2017. In addition to games made by Spike Chunsoft in Japan, it also publishes games from Mages (a company that was part of Spike Chunsoft's main company, Dwango, until July 2019) and from other companies.