 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Video games |
| Founded | November 2004 |
| Headquarters | Torrance, California, US |
Key people | Shinichi Suzuki (president and CEO) |
| Parent | AQ Interactive (2007–2011) Marvelous (2011–present) |
| Website | xseedgames |
Xseed Games is an American video game company founded by former members of Square Enix USA. [1] It later became a subsidiary of the Japanese game company Marvelous, providing the localization and publishing services for video games and related materials.
In 2007, AQ Interactive, Inc. announced the acquisition of Xseed Games, with share transfer before June. [2] The deal was signed on April 24, and the share transfer was completed on June 26. [3] Xseed Games joined the forces with Marvelous Entertainment (MMV) to co-publish their games in North America in 2008. [4] [5] [6] At E3 2008, MMV USA and Xseed Games distinguished the games that would be co-published under the agreement and the games that Xseed would publish separately. [7]
In 2009 on April 1, AQ Interactive announced increasing its stake of Xseed Games from 55% to 90% on the day of announcement. [8] On April 14, Xseed Games announced its partnership with Japanese developer Nihon Falcom over localizing and publishing Ys Seven , Ys: The Oath in Felghana , Ys I & II Chronicles , and the Trails in the Sky trilogy for the PlayStation Portable in North America. [9] [10]
Xseed Games published Ys: The Oath in Felghana and Ys Origin on the Steam digital distribution platform in 2012 as their first release. [11] In March 2013, Index Corporation's Atlus Online Division online business unit was purchased by Marvelous AQL and transferred to Xseed. [12] Later on April 6, Xseed Games announced its business name was changed to Marvelous USA, Inc. [13]
In 2019, former Xseed localization producer Brittany Avery discovered that she was not credited for her work on the enhanced PlayStation 4 port of The Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel after leaving the company the previous year. As a result, Xseed revealed their policy of not crediting staff members in games if they are no longer employed at the company at the time it releases. The practice, also done by some other companies in the industry, was widely criticized. [14] [15]
Ys is a series of action role-playing games developed by Nihon Falcom. The series chronicles the life of the adventurer, Adol Christin.
Nippon Ichi Software, Inc. is a Japanese video game developer and publisher. The company was founded in 1991 and has developed several role-playing video games, most notably the Disgaea and Marl Kingdom series. Its mascot is the penguin-like Disgaea character Prinny.
AQ Interactive, Inc. was a Japanese video game developer and publisher. AQ stands for Artistic Quality. It was the parent company of the developers Artoon, Cavia and feelplus, and most recently the U.S. publisher Xseed Games. AQ Interactive and its subsidiaries produced games both under the AQ Interactive name, as well as developing for other publishers such as Microsoft Studios and Nintendo.
Marvelous Inc. is a Japanese video game developer and publisher, and anime producer. The company was founded in 1997 but formed in its current state on October 2011 by the merger of the original Marvelous Entertainment with AQ Interactive, and Liveware.
Senran Kagura is a video game series created by Kenichiro Takaki, produced by Marvelous and mostly developed by Tamsoft. The franchise revolves around groups of female shinobi, and has received manga and anime adaptations. The anime has been licensed by Crunchyroll LLC in North America.
2017 saw the release of numerous video games as well as other developments in the video game industry. The Nintendo Switch console was released in 2017, which sold more than 14 million units by the end of the year, exceeding the under-performing Wii U lifetime sales. This has helped to revitalize Nintendo, with the "retro" Super NES Classic Edition console, the refreshed New Nintendo 2DS XL handheld and a strategy for mobile gaming. Microsoft also released the higher-powered Xbox One X targeted for 4K resolutions and virtual reality support.
Numerous video games were released in 2018. Best-selling games included Madden NFL 19, NBA 2K19, NBA Live 19, WWE 2K19, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Marvel's Spider-Man, Red Dead Redemption 2, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Far Cry 5, God of War, Monster Hunter: World, Assassin’s Creed: Odyssey, Spyro Reignited Trilogy, and Dragon Ball FighterZ. Games highly regarded by video game critics released in 2018 included Red Dead Redemption 2, God of War, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, Marvel's Spider-Man, Forza Horizon 4, Monster Hunter: World, Dead Cells, Return of the Obra Dinn, and Celeste. The year's highest-grossing games included Fortnite, Honor of Kings/Arena of Valor, Dungeon Fighter Online, League of Legends, and Pokémon Go.
Harvest Moon is a farm simulation role-playing video game series published by Natsume Inc. The main objective of the games is to rebuild a run-down old farm and turn it into a successful one.
In the video game industry during 2019, both Sony and Microsoft announced their intent to reveal their next-generation consoles in 2020, while Nintendo introduced a smaller Nintendo Switch Lite, and Google announced its streaming game platform Stadia. The controversy over loot boxes as a potential gambling route continued into 2019, with some governments like Belgium and the Netherlands banning games with them under their gambling laws, while the United Kingdom acknowledging their current laws prevent enforcing these as if they were games of chance. The first video cards to support real-time ray tracing were put onto the consumer market, including the first set of games that would take advantage of the new technology. The Epic Games Store continued its growth in challenging the largest digital PC game distribution service Steam, leading to concern and debate about Epic Games' methods to seek games for its service. Dota Auto Chess, a community-created mod for Dota 2, introduced a new subgenre of strategy games called auto battlers, which saw several games in the genre released throughout the year. Blizzard Entertainment faced criticism due to their involvement in the Blitzchung controversy, which began after they had banned a Hearthstone player for making comments during a tournament regarding the 2019–20 Hong Kong protests.
In the video game industry, 2020 saw the launch of the next generation of video game consoles, with both Microsoft and Sony Interactive Entertainment having released the Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5 consoles, respectively, in November 2020. The industry was heavily affected by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic which had begun in March and was characterized by COVID-19 lockdowns and remote work. While this caused numerous delays in software and hardware releases and the cancellation of live conferences and events in favor of virtual shows, it also created a boon for the industry as people turned to gaming as a means to pass the time. The industry also reacted to various political/cultural events.
In the video game industry, 2021 saw the release of many new titles. The numerous delays in software and hardware releases due to the continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic heavily impacted development schedules, leading to several games being delayed into 2022 or even postponed indefinitely. Additionally, computer and console hardware were impacted by the combined effects of a semiconductor shortage and a rising growth of bitcoin mining that strained the supply of critical components.
In the video game industry, 2022 saw the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the industry, slowing hardware sales for most of the year as well as development delays for major titles. The industry continued its trend of acquisitions and mergers, highlighted by Microsoft announcing its plan to acquire Activision Blizzard for nearly $69 billion. The industry as a whole continued to deal with issues such as workplace harassment and discrimination, alongside crunch periods, leading to at least the quality assurance staff at three separate studios to vote to unionize.
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