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 ...

located in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, Japan that has created a number of

simulation game Simulation video games are a diverse super-category of video games, generally designed to closely simulate real world activities. A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of a game for various purposes such ...

s for cell phones, PCs,

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

and Xbox consoles. Founded in 1996, the company has developed a number of

mobile games A mobile game is a video game that is typically played on a mobile phone. The term also refers to all games that are played on any portable device, including from mobile phone (feature phone or smartphone), tablet, PDA to handheld game conso ...

for the Japanese market and has found great success in porting them to the modern

iOS Ios, Io or Nio (, ; ; locally Nios, Νιός) is a Greek island in the Cyclades group in the Aegean Sea. Ios is a hilly island with cliffs down to the sea on most sides. It is situated halfway between Naxos and Santorini. It is about long an ...

and Android operating systems. The company was ranked 30th in ''

Pocket Gamer ''Pocket Gamer'' is a video game website and former print magazine that focuses on mobile, portable and handheld games. It was launched in 2005 by Steel Media Limited. The publication covers portable and mobile gaming formats, including iPhone, ...

''s "top 50 developers of 2012" list.

History

Kairosoft was founded as a dōjin games developer in 1996, and is currently located in the

Nishi-Shinjuku is a skyscraper business district in Shinjuku, Tokyo, Japan. The region was previously called . History Nishi-Shinjuku was Tokyo's first major foray into building skyscrapers with the first appearing in the 1970s with Keio Plaza Inter-Con ...

district of

with only nine employees. They started out developing

simulation games Simulation video games are a diverse super-category of video games, generally designed to closely simulate real world activities. A simulation game attempts to copy various activities from real life in the form of a game for various purposes such ...

for the

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

platform, the first of which was released in 1996 and simulated a

used bookstore Used bookstores (usually called "second-hand bookshops" in Great Britain) buy and sell used books and out-of-print books. A range of titles is available in used bookstores, including in print and out-of-print books. Book collectors tend to freque ...

, and another example was the original '' Game Dev Story'' released in 1997, with a sequel released in 2001. In 2001, Kairosoft switched to developing mobile simulation games for the Japanese cell phone market, which was much more developed than America's. The company was incorporated in September 2007, and launched a new website on November 4, 2008. With the release of '' Game Dev Story'' for iOS and Android in 2010, Kairosoft found itself a large hit, which reached the top ten in iPhone app sales in its first week. Kairosoft continued to port over games that it had previously developed for other platforms. ''

'' ranked Kairosoft 30th on its "top 50 developers of 2012" list, calling Kairosoft games a "genre in their own right" but noting that they still were mostly a niche in the market.

Games

English games for WildTangent

Mobile games available in English

Computer games available in English

Untranslated games

Mobile

* ''Departure!! Shipping Freighter'' (Android and Keitai only) * ''Dragging Cat Rebel'' * ''Excitement! Manga Dojo'' (iOS and Keitai only) * ''Friends Entertainment Building'' * ''Game Center Club'' * ''Good Ramen Museum ~National Hen~'' * ''Manga Path'' * ''Munch Munch Kairo-kun'' * ''Outdoor Excavation Company'' (Keitai only) * ''Piko Piko! Game Expo'' (Keitai only) * ''Prestigious Pocket Academy 1'' (Android and Keitai only) * ''Royal Gallery Academy'' (Keitai only) * ''Social Game Dev Dream'' (Android and Keitai only) * ''Start!! Hero Base'' * ''Wai Wai! Game Dealer'' (iOS and Keitai only) * ''Witch Quest''

PC

* ''Bookstore Story'' * ''Game Developing Countries'' * ''Game Developing Countries II DX'' * ''The Narrow Path to Manga'' * ''The Secondhand-book Store'' * ''The Secondhand-book Store 2''

References

External links

*
Kairosoft's original website, with PC game downloads
{{Kairosoft Software companies based in Tokyo Japanese companies established in 1996 Video game companies established in 1996 Video game companies of Japan Video game development companies