Square Co., Ltd., also known as SquareSoft internationally, was a Japanese company that created and sold video games. It was started in 1986 by Masafumi Miyamoto, who separated the computer game division from Den-Yu-Sha, a company that built power lines owned by his father. Early workers included game designers Hironobu Sakaguchi, Hiromichi Tanaka, Akitoshi Kawazu, Koichi Ishii, artist Kazuko Shibuya, programmer Nasir Gebelli, and composer Nobuo Uematsu. The company first made action games but gained popularity with the role-playing game Final Fantasy in 1987. This game became one of the company’s most important series. Later, important staff included directors Yoshinori Kitase and Takashi Tokita, designer and writer Yasumi Matsuno, artists Tetsuya Nomura and Yusuke Naora, and composers Yoko Shimomura and Masashi Hamauzu.
At first, Square made games for personal computers, then only for Nintendo systems. In the 1990s, the company ended its partnership with Nintendo to create games for Sony Computer Entertainment’s new console, the PlayStation. Their first major game for the PlayStation, Final Fantasy VII, was very successful worldwide. It helped increase the popularity of role-playing games and the PlayStation outside of Japan. In addition to Final Fantasy, the company made and sold other well-known series, such as SaGa, Mana, Front Mission, Chrono, and Kingdom Hearts. Over time, many employees left to start other companies, including Monolith Soft and Mistwalker, which are still active, and Sacnoth and AlphaDream, which are no longer in business.
In 2001, the company faced financial problems because of the failure of the movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within. This led Hironobu Sakaguchi to leave the company in 2003. The movie’s failure also stopped talks about merging with Enix, the publisher of the Dragon Quest series. After the success of Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts, discussions about the merger continued. On April 1, 2003, the merger was completed, forming Square Enix.
History
Square was created in September 1983 as a software company owned by Den-Yu-Sha, a large electric power company led by Kuniichi Miyamoto. His son, Masafumi Miyamoto, worked part-time at Keio University’s Science and Technology Department and was not interested in joining his father’s electricity business. Instead, Masafumi became a software developer at Den-Yu-Sha’s Yokohama branch, focusing on video games. The company’s first office was in a building that had once been a hairdresser’s salon. The name “Square” came from a golf term and a town square, symbolizing the company’s goal to face challenges bravely and work together.
At the time, most video games in Japan were made by one programmer. Masafumi believed that teams of graphic designers, programmers, and writers were needed to create better games. Early employees, like Shinichiro Kajitani, joined because they were friends with Masafumi. The company felt like a family or a college club. To find talent, Masafumi held events in Yokohama and hired students with strong programming skills, including Hironobu Sakaguchi and Hiromichi Tanaka. Hisashi Suzuki, who later became Square’s CEO, was also hired. Masafumi planned to recruit from Keio University, but this did not happen.
Square’s first game was based on a TV show, but the company did not have the rights to use it, so the project was canceled. Their first completed game was The Death Trap (1984), a text adventure for the NEC PC-8801 computer set in a war-torn African country. This was the first game released under the Square brand. Its sequel, Will: The Death Trap II (1985), was successful. Many early Square games were made for personal computers and focused on action games.
In 1985, Square signed a deal with Nintendo to make games for the Family Computer (Famicom). This allowed Square to use stable hardware instead of constantly changing computer parts. Their first Famicom game was a version of Thexder (1985), and their first original game was King’s Knight (1986). During this time, Square hired new developers, artists, and composers, including Akitoshi Kawazu, Koichi Ishii, Kazuko Shibuya, Nasir Gebelli, and Nobuo Uematsu. Yusuke Hirata joined as a sales manager and later became the company’s publicity manager.
In April 1986, Square moved to offices in Ginza, a very expensive area in Tokyo. Sakaguchi later said Masafumi likely wanted to appear wealthy to attract business. Square became an independent company in September 1986 with ¥10 million in funding. It bought the original gaming division from Den-Yu-Sha in December. Sakaguchi became a Director of Planning and Development, and Hisashi Suzuki became a company director. Due to high rent costs, Square moved to smaller offices in Okachimachi, Taitō. Financial problems arose after failures with Nintendo’s Famicom Disk System. Masafumi asked the company’s four directors to suggest game ideas, and Sakaguchi proposed making a role-playing game (RPG) after the success of Enix’s Dragon Quest (1986).
Masafumi allowed the RPG to be made, but only with a team of five people. Sakaguchi led the project, working with Gebelli, Kawazu, Ishii, and Uematsu. Development of the game, later named Final Fantasy, was slow at first. Sakaguchi later got help from Tanaka’s team, including Shibuya and new debugger Hiroyuki Ito. The game took about ten months to complete. Sakaguchi convinced Square to double the planned shipment of 200,000 units. Final Fantasy was released in 1987 and sold over 400,000 copies in Japan. It sold even more in North America when released in 1989. Other successful games from 1987 included Rad Racer and The 3-D Battles of WorldRunner.
The success of Final Fantasy led to Final Fantasy II (1988), which introduced recurring elements of the series. Five more Final Fantasy games were made for the Famicom and Super Famicom, ending with Final Fantasy VI (1994). Square also made games for Nintendo’s Game Boy. In 1990, Square moved to the Akasaka district and later to Ebisu, Shibuya, in 1992. In 1991, Square merged with another company with the same name to change its share prices. This made Square’s founding date go back to July 1966.
Square borrowed money from Shikoku Bank to fund development. In 1990, the bank sent Tomoyuki Takechi to work at Square as an office manager. His role lasted until 1994, by which time Square had annual sales of ¥16 million. In 1991, Square registered with the Japan Securities Dealers Association to sell shares to the public. Sakaguchi became Executive President, but his focus on business reduced his creative role. Gebelli left Square in 1993 and retired on royalties from Final Fantasy. Masafumi stepped down as President in 1991 but remained a major shareholder, replaced by Tetsuo Mizuno. Hisashi Suzuki became Vice President in 1991.
As Final Fantasy
Structure
During reports about the merger with Enix, Takashi Oya from Deutsche Securities compared Enix's habit of outsourcing game development to Square's method of creating games "everything by itself." When Square was founded in the early 1980s, there was no set development structure. The ten-person staff freely shifted between roles and projects. This eventually evolved into two loosely defined production groups, led by Sakaguchi and Tanaka, respectively. After releasing Final Fantasy IV, Sakaguchi split the production team. He assigned different staff members to work on the Final Fantasy, SaGa, and Mana series. A secondary studio was founded in Osaka in 1990. Their first project was Final Fantasy Legend III in 1991.
By 1997, the company was divided into eight development divisions, with two based in Osaka. In 1998, the old development divisions were restructured into Production Departments, and the Osaka branch was closed. The system was reshuffled again in 2002 to promote "greater understanding" and allow for reassignment between divisions. At that time, division heads included Kitase, Kawazu, Tanaka, Matsuno, and Hirata. After the merger with Enix, the eight divisions were incorporated into the new company. Two additional divisions from Enix were also added.
Square self-published most of its games in Japan and occasionally acted as a publisher for third-party developers. Their presence in the West during the 1980s and early 1990s was small. RPGs were not popular in North America at that time, and Square's presence in Europe was limited. The original Final Fantasy was published in North America in 1990 by Nintendo of America, near the launch of the Super Nintendo. This led to its two sequels being passed over for localization at that time. One of Square's third-party North American releases was the original Breath of Fire by Capcom, who outsourced publishing and localization to Square. The Redmond office later closed, with some localization staff choosing not to relocate to California.
Square initially did not have an internal localization department. Instead, they outsourced translation work to other companies. After the release of Final Fantasy VII, which faced criticism for its localization, Square created a new internal department to improve quality. Starting with only two employees, the department grew over time. Some games still faced challenges due to large text sizes, difficulties translating culture-specific elements, potential censorship, and the introduction of voice acting in games like Final Fantasy X. Notable localization staff included Kaoru Moriyama, Ted Woolsey, Michael Basket, Richard Honeywood, and Alexander O. Smith.
Many Square titles remained exclusive to Japan due to design complexities, low graphical quality, and technical difficulties. In the 1990s, Square's first six PlayStation releases were published by Sony as part of a contract between the two companies. Eidos Interactive handled the Windows ports of Final Fantasy VII and Final Fantasy VIII. In Europe, Square's local branch self-published several games, including mainline Final Fantasy titles. It also partnered with third-party companies like Eidos, Crave Entertainment, and Infogrames for publishing or distribution of different titles.
In 1989, Square established Square Soft in Redmond, Washington, to provide development and publishing support in the West. After opening North American offices, Square began publishing selected titles under the "SquareSoft" brand. As Square moved its projects to PlayStation in 1994, a second Western R&D subsidiary called Square LA was founded in August 1995 in Marina del Rey, California. It was renamed Square USA in October 1996. Square Soft developed Secret of Evermore in 1995 for the Super Nintendo and later moved to Costa Mesa, California, near Square USA. In 1997, a second Square USA branch was opened in Honolulu, Hawaii, to focus on new interactive entertainment research. This branch helped with CGI development on Parasite Eve and Final Fantasy IX. Square Europe was founded in 1998 in London, England, focusing on publishing in Europe.
A publishing brand called Aques was established by Square in 1996. The name was an anagram of Square's name and an acronym for "Advanced QUality Entertainment and Sports," reflecting the company's diversification beyond role-playing games. That same year, Square created a distribution company called DigiCube, with convenience stores as their main strategy. DigiCube expanded into book publishing, stocked games from other companies, and at one point published games under its own brand. DigiCube survived the Square Enix merger but declared bankruptcy in 2004 after years of declining sales.
In 1999, Square created several subsidiaries with specific roles: Square Visual Works focused on producing CGI animation, Square Sounds handled music and sound effects, Squartz managed quality control and user support, and Square Next supported smaller game projects. After the success of Final Fantasy VII in 1997, Sakaguchi founded a dedicated CGI film studio called Square Pictures in Hawaii. His goal was to develop The Spirits Within and advance Square's CGI technology. By the end of 2001, Square Pictures was dissolved and merged into Visual Works. Square USA's Hawaiian branch developed the CGI short "Final Flight of the Osiris," which later became part of the 2003 anthology film The Animatrix. The branch was shut down in 2002 after failing to find a film studio partner.
In 2002, Square Next was rebranded as The Game Designer Studio, with ownership shared between Square's Product Development Division 2 and Kawazu. The goal was to develop games for Nintendo consoles without affecting production on Sony
Related studios
Many people who worked at Square started new companies and other projects. Nishi founded Love-de-Lic in 1995, creating three games, including Moon: Remix RPG Adventure. Employees from Love-de-Lic later started smaller studios, such as Skip Ltd. (known for Chibi-Robo!) and Punchline (known for Rule of Rose). Kikuta was frustrated with Square's strict structure. In 1997, he founded Sacnoth, which became famous for the Shadow Hearts series. He left Sacnoth in 1999 after completing his project Koudelka and started a music company called Nostrilia. Developers of Xenogears, including Takahashi and Tanaka, founded Monolith Soft in 1999 to create projects outside the Final Fantasy series. They made more games with the Xeno prefix.
Kameoka and other developers who worked on Legend of Mana (1999) started Brownie Brown in 2000. Brownie Brown later helped Square Enix remake Final Fantasy Adventure as Sword of Mana (2003). In 2000, Mizuno founded AlphaDream, working with Fujioka to develop the Mario & Luigi series. Employees from Square Pictures, including Motonori Sakakibara, who co-directed The Spirits Within, started Sprite Animation Studios in 2002. After leaving Square, Takechi founded a music company called Dreamusic in 2001 with Kazunaga Nitta. Mitsuda started a music studio called Procyon in 2001 to continue working while staying healthy. After leaving his role as president in 2001, Sakaguchi had a period of low energy but later returned to game development. In 2004, he founded Mistwalker. The studio became known for the Blue Dragon and Terra Wars series, as well as several individual projects.