, commonly referred to as ArcSys, is a Japanese
video game developer
A video game developer is a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large business with em ...
and
publisher
Publishing is the activities of making information, literature, music, software, and other content, physical or digital, available to the public for sale or free of charge. Traditionally, the term publishing refers to the creation and distribu ...
located in
Yokohama
is the List of cities in Japan, second-largest city in Japan by population as well as by area, and the country's most populous Municipalities of Japan, municipality. It is the capital and most populous city in Kanagawa Prefecture, with a popu ...
. Founded by Minoru Kidooka in 1988, the company is known for arcade 2D fighting game franchises, including ''
Guilty Gear
''Guilty Gear'' is a series of fighting games by Arc System Works, created and designed by artist Daisuke Ishiwatari. Guilty Gear (first video game), The first game was published in 1998, and has spawned several sequels. It has also adapted to o ...
'' and ''
BlazBlue.'' They have also developed other fighting games using external licenses, including ''
Dragon Ball FighterZ'', ''
Persona 4 Arena'' and ''
Arena Ultimax'',
Granblue Fantasy Versus and
''Versus Rising'', ''
Marvel Tōkon: Fighting Souls'', and others.
History
The company was founded in January 1988 and incorporated as Arc Co., Ltd. in May.
The company spent early years as a contract developer for
Sega
is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...
,
Sammy, and
Banpresto
(formerly Coreland Technology Inc.) was a Japanese video game developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. It had a branch in Hong Kong named Banpresto H.K., which was headquartered in the New Territories. Ba ...
. It consisted at the time of around eight developers; most of whom had previously worked at Sega including founder Minoru Kidooka. It was renamed Arc System Works in 1991.
In 1992 they developed a game for the Famicom called ''Pizza Pop!''. The company produced a series of ''
Sailor Moon
is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Naoko Takeuchi. It was originally serialized in Kodansha's Shōjo manga, ''shōjo'' manga magazine ''Nakayoshi'' from 1991 to 1997; the 60 individual chapters (later reorganized into ...
'' video games for publisher Angel including ''
Bishōjo Senshi Sailor Moon S: Jōgai Rantō!? Shuyaku Sōdatsusen'' which was the first fighting game they produced''.''
They published their first title in 1995 which was ''
Exector'' for the
PlayStation
is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...
.
On June 11, 2015, the company acquired all intellectual properties of
Technōs Japan
was a Japanese video game Video game developer, developer, best known for the ''Double Dragon'' and ''Kunio-kun (series), Kunio-kun'' Media franchise, franchises (the latter including ''Renegade (video game), Renegade'', ''Super Dodge Ball'' and ...
, such as ''
Double Dragon
is a beat 'em up video game series originally developed and published by Technōs Japan. It began with the release of the arcade game '' Double Dragon'' in 1987. The series features twin martial artists, Billy and Jimmy Lee, as they fight again ...
'' and ''
Kunio-kun'', from Million Co., Ltd. Even prior to its acquisition of Million's library, the company had been the publisher of Technōs' video games for
Virtual Console
The Virtual Console was a line of downloadable retro video games for Nintendo's Wii and Wii U home video game consoles and the Nintendo 3DS family of handheld systems. The Virtual Console lineup consisted of titles originally released on pa ...
in Japan. Following the transaction, the company took the publishing duties from
Aksys Games
Aksys Games Localization, Inc. is a video game publisher that specializes in translating and localizing Japanese video games for English-speaking markets. It was founded by Akibo Shieh in 2006. Some of its clients include Bandai Namco Games, Xs ...
for Virtual Console releases in North America, though some Technōs games were already published by Arc System Works.
On February 6, 2017, the company acquired the rights to the ''
Jake Hunter'', ''
Theresia'', ''Nazo no Jikenbo'', and ''Koneko no Ie'' series from publisher
WorkJam. On November 2, 2017, the company announced the establishment of a
North America
North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere, Northern and Western Hemisphere, Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South Ameri ...
n branch in
Torrance, California
Torrance is a coastal city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the metropolitan ...
, known as Arc System Works America, Inc.
In July 2024, Arc System Works opened a European branch at
Paris
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
, France.
Games developed
Games published
See also
References
External links
*
{{Authority control
Amusement companies of Japan
Companies based in Yokohama
Video game companies established in 1988
Video game companies of Japan
Video game development companies
Video game publishers
Japanese companies established in 1988