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 power line company 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. At first, the company made action games, but it became famous with the role-playing game Final Fantasy in 1987. This game started a long series that became one of the company’s most well-known projects. Later, important workers 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, Square 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 Japan. In addition to the Final Fantasy series, Square made and sold other well-known series, such as SaGa, Mana, Front Mission, Chrono, and Kingdom Hearts. Over time, many employees left to start their own studios, including Monolith Soft and Mistwalker, which are still active, and Sacnoth and AlphaDream, which are no longer in business.
In 2001, Square faced financial problems because its movie Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within did not sell well. This led Hironobu Sakaguchi to leave the company in 2003. The movie’s failure also stopped talks about combining Square with Enix, the company that published the Dragon Quest series. After the success of Final Fantasy X and Kingdom Hearts, discussions about the merger continued. On April 1, 2003, Square and Enix merged to form Square Enix.
History
Square was started in September 1983 as a software company under 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 business. Instead, Masafumi became a software developer at Den-Yu-Sha’s Yokohama branch, focusing on video games. The company’s first offices were in a former hair salon. The name “Square” came from a golf term meaning to face challenges directly and also referred to a town square, showing the company’s focus on teamwork.
At the time, most Japanese video games were made by one programmer. Masafumi believed teams of graphic designers, programmers, and writers were needed for better games. Early workers included Shinichiro Kajitani, a friend of Masafumi, who compared the company to a “college club.” Masafumi held a salon in Yokohama to find skilled programmers, hiring students like Hironobu Sakaguchi and Hiromichi Tanaka, as well as Hisashi Suzuki, who later became Square’s CEO. Masafumi originally planned to hire from Keio University, but this did not happen.
Square’s first game was an adaptation of a TV show called Torin-ingen, but the show’s producers forced Square to cancel it after they did not have the proper license. The team was reorganized, and Square’s first completed game was The Death Trap (1984), a text adventure for the NEC PC-8801. It 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 PCs and focused on action.
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 PC parts. Square’s first Famicom game was a version of Thexder (1985), and its first original game was King’s Knight (1986). During this time, the team hired new developers, artists, and composers, including Akitoshi Kawazu, Koichi Ishii, Kazuko Shibuya, Nasir Gebelli, and Nobuo Uematsu. Yusuke Hirata joined as sales manager and later became publicity manager.
In April 1986, Square moved to offices in Ginza, a very expensive area. Sakaguchi later said Masafumi hoped to look wealthy to attract business. Square became an independent company in September 1986 with ¥10 million in capital, buying the 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. Financial struggles followed after failures with Nintendo’s Famicom Disk System. Masafumi asked directors for game ideas, and Sakaguchi proposed a role-playing game (RPG), inspired by the success of Dragon Quest (1986).
Masafumi allowed the RPG to be made with a five-person team. Sakaguchi led development, working with Gebelli, Kawazu, Ishii, and Uematsu. Production of Final Fantasy (1987) was slow at first, but Sakaguchi later got help from Tanaka’s team, including Shibuya and Hiroyuki Ito. The game was released with 400,000 copies planned, but Sakaguchi doubled the number. Final Fantasy sold over 400,000 copies in Japan and 700,000 in North America when released in 1989. Other 1987 successes 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 in 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 offices to Akasaka, then to Ebisu in 1992. In 1991, Square merged with another company to change its share prices, backdating its founding to July 1966.
Square borrowed money from Shikoku Bank to fund development. Tomoyuki Takechi was sent to manage Square in 1990, staying until 1994 when Square’s annual sales reached ¥16 million. In 1991, Square registered with the Japan Securities Dealers Association to sell shares. Sakaguchi became Executive President, reducing his creative role. Gebelli left in 1993, and Masafumi stepped down as President in 1991, replaced by Tetsuo Mizuno. Hisashi Suzuki became Vice President.
As Final Fantasy became Square’s main property, other projects also succeeded. Hanjuku Hero (1988) was a real-time strategy game parodying RPGs. Kawazu led Makai Toushi SaGa (1989), starting the SaGa series. Ishii created Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden (1991), later known as Final Fantasy Adventure, and developed the Mana series. A famous collaboration was Chrono Trigger (1999), made by Sakaguchi, Yuji Horii, and Akira Toriyama. Other titles included Secret of Evermore and Super Mario RPG. Sakaguchi noted that while Final Fantasy was the most well-known, other series also helped Square stay profitable.
By the early 1990s, more staff joined Square due to Final Fantasy’s success. Some worked on Final Fantasy IV (1991), including Yoshinori Kitase.
Structure
During reports on the merger with Enix, Takashi Oya of Deutsche Securities compared Enix's habit of hiring outside companies for development with Square's method of creating everything in-house. When Square was founded in the early 1980s, there was no fixed structure for development, and the ten-person staff often changed roles and projects. This eventually became two groups, each led by Sakaguchi and Tanaka. After the release of Final Fantasy IV, Sakaguchi split the team, assigning different staff to work on the Final Fantasy, SaGa, and Mana series. A second studio was created in Osaka in 1990, with Final Fantasy Legend III (1991) as its first project.
By 1997, the company had eight development groups, two of which were in Osaka. In 1998, these groups were reorganized into Production Departments, and the Osaka branch was closed. The system changed again in 2002 to improve communication and allow staff to move between departments. At that time, division leaders included Kitase, Kawazu, Tanaka, Matsuno, and Hirata. After merging with Enix, the eight divisions were combined into the new company, with two more divisions added from Enix.
Square published most of its games in Japan and sometimes helped other companies publish their games. However, its presence in the West during the 1980s and early 1990s was small. Role-playing games were not popular in North America at that time, and Square had limited activity in Europe. The original Final Fantasy was released in North America in 1990 by Nintendo of America, close to the launch of the Super Nintendo. This led to its two sequels not being translated for the region at that time. One of Square’s third-party releases in North America was the original Breath of Fire by Capcom, who outsourced publishing and translation to Square. Later, the Redmond office closed, and some translation staff moved to California.
Square did not have its own translation team at first, hiring outside translators instead. After the release of Final Fantasy VII, which faced criticism for its translation, Square created an internal department to improve quality. Starting with two employees, the team grew over time. Some games still had challenges due to large text amounts, cultural differences, censorship, and the addition of voice acting in games like Final Fantasy X. Notable translators included Kaoru Moriyama, Ted Woolsey, Michael Basket, Richard Honeywood, and Alexander O. Smith.
Many Square games remained exclusive to Japan because of design challenges, low graphics quality, and technical issues. In the 1990s, Square’s first six PlayStation games were published by Sony as part of a contract. Eidos Interactive handled the Windows versions of Final Fantasy VII and VIII. In Europe, Square’s local branch published several games, including mainline Final Fantasy titles, and partnered with companies like Eidos, Crave Entertainment, and Infogrames for publishing or distribution.
In 1989, Square created Square Soft in Redmond, Washington, to support development and publishing in the West. After opening North American offices, Square published some titles under the "SquareSoft" brand. When Square shifted to PlayStation in 1994, a second Western R&D company, Square LA, was founded in California in 1995 and later renamed Square USA in 1996. Square Soft developed Secret of Evermore for the Super Nintendo and later moved to Costa Mesa, California, near Square USA. In 1997, a second Square USA branch opened in Honolulu, Hawaii, to focus on new interactive entertainment research, contributing to CGI development for Parasite Eve and Final Fantasy IX. Square Europe was established in 1998 in London, England, to handle publishing in Europe.
In 1996, Square created a publishing brand called Aques, an anagram of Square’s name and an acronym for "Advanced QUality Entertainment and Sports," showing the company’s move beyond role-playing games. That same year, Square formed a distribution company called DigiCube, focusing on convenience stores. DigiCube expanded into book publishing and sold games from other companies, even publishing some under its own brand. DigiCube survived the Square Enix merger but went bankrupt in 2004 after declining sales.
In 1999, Square created several subsidiaries with specific roles: Square Visual Works for CGI animation, Square Sounds for music and sound effects, Squartz for quality control and support, and Square Next for smaller game projects. After Final Fantasy VII’s success in 1997, Sakaguchi started a CGI film studio called Square Pictures in Hawaii, aiming to develop The Spirits Within and improve Square’s CGI technology. By 2001, Square Pictures was merged into Visual Works. Square USA’s Hawaiian branch created the CGI short "Final Flight of the Osiris," which later appeared in The Animatrix (2003). The branch closed in 2002 after failing to find a film partner.
In 2002, Square Next was renamed The Game Designer Studio, managed by Square’s Product Development Division 2 and Kawazu. The goal was to develop games for Nintendo consoles without affecting PlayStation projects. The Game Designers Studio was later absorbed into Square Enix after completing Crystal Chronicles, renamed SQEX Corporation, and dissolved in 2010. Square Sounds became an internal division in 2002 as part of cost-cutting efforts. The Square Soft subsidiary, created in 1989, became Square Enix Inc. after merging with Enix in 2003. All other subsidiaries were folded into Square Enix during the merger, with Visual Works becoming a dedicated department.
On May 1, 1998, Square formed a joint venture with Electronic Arts. Square Electronic Arts published Square games in North America, while Electronic Arts Square published Electronic Arts games in Japan. The partnership followed Electronic Arts ending a similar deal with Victor in 1997. Square owned 70% of Square Electronic Arts, and Electronic Arts owned 30%. Electronic Arts Square also developed the PlayStation 2 launch title X-Squad. On March 31, 2003, the joint ventures were dissolved, with each company buying the other’s shares. Square called the partnership a success in a February press release.
Between 1986 and 1988, Square led a group of developers called the Disk Original Group (DOG), which included Square, HummingBirdSoft, System Sacom, Microcabin, Carry Lab, Thinking Rabbit, and Xtalsoft. This group shared resources to reduce costs. The Famicom Disk System became obsolete in 1988 due to better storage in standard Famicom cartridges. In January 1994, Square acquired Cobra Team, turning it into a subsidiary.
Related studios
Many employees from Square went on to start well-known game studios and other companies. Nishi started Love-de-Lic in 1995, creating three games, including Moon: Remix RPG Adventure. Workers from Love-de-Lic later formed smaller studios, such as Skip Ltd. (Chibi-Robo!) and Punchline (Rule of Rose). Kikuta, frustrated by Square's strict structure, started Sacnoth in 1997, which became famous for the Shadow Hearts series. He left Sacnoth in 1999 after completing his project Koudelka and later founded the music label Nostrilia. Some developers from Xenogears, including Takahashi and Tanaka, started Monolith Soft in 1999 to work on projects outside the Final Fantasy series, creating more games with the Xeno prefix.
Kameoka and others who worked on Legend of Mana (1999) started Brownie Brown in 2000. Brownie Brown later collaborated with Square Enix to 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 The Spirits Within co-director Motonori Sakakibara, created Sprite Animation Studios in 2002. After leaving Square, Takechi started the music label Dreamusic in 2001 with Kazunaga Nitta. Mitsuda founded the music studio Procyon in 2001 to continue working while staying healthy. After leaving his role as president in 2001, Sakaguchi experienced a period of low energy before returning to game development, founding Mistwalker in 2004. Mistwalker became known for the Blue Dragon and Terra Wars series, as well as several independent projects.