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Tose (company)

Japanese video game developer From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Tose (company)
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This article is about the company. For other uses, see Tose.

Tose Co., Ltd.[a] (also called Tose Software) is a Japanese video game developer based in Kyoto. It is mostly known for developing Nintendo's Game & Watch Gallery series, various Dragon Ball games, as well as contract work or assistance to other developers. Tose has developed or co-developed thousands of games since the company's inception in 1979, but is virtually never credited in the games themselves. It is considered the largest non-publishing game developer in the world.[2]

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Tose maintains a policy of having no creative input in the games it works on, going so far as to refuse to put the studio's name in the credits and employees using pseudonyms.[3] As such, Tose has gained a reputation for being a "ghost developer."[4][5] Representatives of the company have described it as a "ninja developer," because it works in the shadows,[6] as well as the "unsung hero" of the video game industry.[7][8][9] When talking to the press, representatives of the company ask not to be identified by name.[10][11] Exceptions to this include Game & Watch Gallery 4 and The Legendary Starfy series, as Tose shares the copyright with Nintendo.[12][13] Tose has also received development credit for Sega Casino,[6] Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 3 Professional, Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime, and World of Final Fantasy,[10] and co-development on Scarlet Nexus with Bandai Namco and Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII Reunion with Square Enix.[14]

The company provides services for game design, plot design, sound composition, programming, and more.[15] It also does non-games work, developing software for the web, mobile apps, pachinko machines, and even appliances, like refrigerators.[10][16]

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History

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Tose was established by Shigeru Saito in November 1979 in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, as an independent entity of his father's company Toa Seiko Co., Ltd.[17] At the time, Toa Seiko had a contract to produce arcade cabinets for Space Invaders, but its other clients complained about being associated with the gaming industry.[8] It began as an arcade cabinet manufacturer with only five employees. Its first game was the arcade game Sasuke vs. Commander for SNK in September 1980.[13] It released Vanguard, a side-scrolling shooter, in March 1981.[18] Vanguard II, a top-down sequel was made in three years later.[5] By 1982, the company transitioned to software development. When the Famicom released in 1983, Tose was able to partner with Nintendo because it already had experience developing for the console's CPU.[10] It worked with Taito to port Space Invaders to the console, and also worked on Kid Icarus, as well as the Dragon Ball video game series.[19] By this point, Tose had built a reputation as a reliable development partner for third-party titles.[5][20][9]

The company moved its head office to Otokuni-gun, Kyoto Prefecture in May 1986 and Saito was named president. Saito was named president of the company in February 1987.[7] In July 1988, a new head office was completed inYamazaki, Kyoto.[18] In May 1990, Tose began developing software for the Game Boy and the Super Famicom. In 1993, Tose opened offices in Shanghai, China[12][21][22] and Los Angeles, California. The US subsidiary dissolved soon after.[18] During this time, the company began developing mobile games from NTT Docomo's i-mode.[8]

In August 1999, Tose was listed on the Osaka Securities Exchange 2nd Section and the Kyoto Stock Exchange. In October of that year, Tose's Kyoto head office was opened at Shijo-Karasuma. In September 2000, Tose was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange 2nd Section.[23] A second subsidiary based in China was established in Hangzhou in March 2001.[22] In August, Tose was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange 1st Section and Osaka Securities Exchange 1st Section. A new office was opened in Shibuya-ku, Tokyo in September 2002.[18]

Following six years of development, Tose partnered with Nintendo in 2002 to release Densetsu no Starfy for the Game Boy Advance. This was the company's first original IP.[24][25] Tose re-entered the US market in March 2003 and was able to establish an office Westlake Village, California[12][26] with just two employees.[27] Saito was named CEO in September 2004.[7] In October, the company established Phoenix Communications as a subsidiary in Tokyo to plan, develop, sell, and manage digital content for the web.[18]

By 2006, 70% of Tose's clients were located in Japan, 15% in China, 10% in the U.S., and 5% Korea, Canada, and other regions. It had six studios across Japan, China, and the United States with 800 employees in Japan and 200 in China.[12] On December 18, 2007, Tose announced the leakage of its business information onto the Internet, which was discovered the day before. The leak included 10 pieces of information relating to customer names, development cases, development contents, development fees, and reception time.[28] By 2008, Tose had opened additional studios in Okinawa, Nagoya, and Sapporo, and expanded to 1,000 employees in Japan alone.[27] After four installments of the Starfy series in Japan, 2009's The Legendary Starfy on the Nintendo DS was the first game to release in North America.[25][29] Tose designed the game to be accessible for Western audiences.[30]

By 2011, the company was producing 110-120 titles each year.[2] On September 1, 2011, Tose announced the separation of its amusement machine development business from its second game development department (ゲーム事業部開発2部) into a separate amusement machine developer (AM開発部).[31] By 2012, Tose had 12 offices across three countries. Business in the US market had been declining following the end of development for Wii and DS games. In order to diversify its efforts, Tose chose to publish its first game, Susume Tactics! for Sony's PSP.[11] In June 2013, Tose dissolved its US subsidiary and opened an office in Manila, Philippines.[18] In 2014, the company restructured its development teams.[32] By 2015, the company had 400 employees in China and Philippines.[16] Saito became chairman in 2015, while Yasuhito Watanabe was appointed as president and COO.[7][33]

By 2023, video games accounted for 70% of the company's business, while the remaining 30% came from mobile content.[34] In July 2024, the first three Starfy games were added to the Nintendo Classics collection as part of the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack subscription.[29][35] It was reported that Tose was experiencing financial hardship due to a number of cancelled games from partners including Square Enix and Bandai Namco. For the period covering September 2023 to May 2024 the studio's net sales fell nearly 28%, leading to an operating loss of 599 million yen ($3.7 million).[36][37] Tose announced its decision to wind down operations in Philippines and Sapporo, Hokkaido.[38][39] However, between September 2024 and February 2025, Tose saw a major turnaround in profitability thanks to a 56% increase in sales.[40] Tose announced in 2025 it would prioritize console game development due to mobile game market's saturation.[41] In 2025, Atlus accounted for 22% of the company's total revenue, making it Tose’s top customer for the second year in a row. Second was Square Enix, which made up 17% of the developer’s total revenue.[42]

On June 30, 2025, Tose announced its current offices in Nagaokakyo will be demolished and rebuilt for a 2028 opening.[43][44][45][46]

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List of games developed by Tose

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NOTE: Titles released before the official website was created must be verified with information compiled by various amateur and professional journalists. Some are merely believed or assumed to be developed by Tose. Some have not been officially confirmed as Tose-developed products by any of the games' publishers, co-developers, nor Tose itself until Tose created a website to document its work.

See also Category:Tose (company) games
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Tose also worked on a version of Tetris DS for THQ that was ultimately unreleased.[238]

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Notes

  1. [a]
    Japanese: 株式会社トーセ, Hepburn: Kabushiki-gaisha Tōse

References

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