Omega Force

(stylised as ''ω-Force'') is a Japanese video game developer and a division of Koei Tecmo, founded in 1996 by Akihiro Suzuki and Kenichi Ogasawara, and is best known for the ''Dynasty Warriors'' video games.

History

Omega Force was founded in 1996 as the fourth Business Division of Koei, to widen the appeal of Koei's portfolio outside of their strategy and simulation games, such as '' Romance of Three Kingdoms'' and ''Nobunaga's Ambition''. Kenichi Ogasawara originally joined Koei in hopes of being able to work on ''Nobunaga's Ambition'', of which he was a fan, as a planner. Due to his lack of programming skills he was assigned to a training course to become a programmer, whilst porting games from NEC PC-9801 to the Super NES. Ogasawara, after being promoted to planner, was then tasked by Koei to create a 3D action game utilizing the technological capabilities of the PlayStation. This resulted in the development of ''Dynasty Warriors'' and the establishment of Omega Force.

The studio was originally going to be named after the letter ''Z'', however, this idea never came to fruition as the letter ''Z'' can have different meanings outside of Japanese culture. Wanting to keep the last letter of the alphabet, they settled for ''Omega'' from the Greek alphabet. However, because of copyright concerns with the clock manufacturing company Omega SA, ''Force'' was added – a Japanese homophone for "fourth" – representing that they are the fourth business division.

'' WinBack'', released in 1999 for the Nintendo 64, pioneered the cover-based third-person shooter and inspired games such as ''Kill Switch'', ''Gears of War'', and '' Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty''. It also featured an early rendition of a laser sight mechanic for weapon aiming, which would later be seen in games such as ''Resident Evil 4''. The cover system has since become a staple of the third-person shooter genre. With ''WinBack'', which was originally shown off at the 1999 Electronic Entertainment Expo and later at the 1999 Nintendo Space World trade show, Omega Force was once again tasked by Koei to create a title it wasn't known for.

In 2016 Kenichi Ogasawara mentioned during an interview with Famitsu that the next entry in their key franchise ''Dynasty Warriors'', titled '' Dynasty Warriors 9'', was in development. He hoped to have a greater impact with ''Dynasty Warriors 9'', as he mentioned "the evolution from '' Dynasty Warriors 7'' to '' 8'' was insufficient". Producers Masaki Furusawa and Akihiro Suzuki planned to overhaul the franchise's often criticized combat system. In 2018, Omega Force released '' Dynasty Warriors 9'', moving the franchise from its arena-based combat to an open-world.

'' Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity'', the third collaboration project between Omega Force and Nintendo, released in 2020, became the best-selling ''Warriors'' game, as well as the developer's best-selling title, shipping over 4 million copies as January 2022.

In 2022, Omega Force announced a partnership with Electronic Arts, along with its parent company Koei Tecmo. Their new game, '' Wild Hearts'', would be published under their EA Originals label. The game was officially announced on September 23, 2022. ''Wild Hearts director, Kotaro Hirata, mentioned that ''Dynasty Warriors'' has become a pillar franchise for Omega Force, and that with ''Wild Hearts'', they wanted another strong pillar franchise for Omega Force, hoping to widen their audience, and create more internationally appealing titles. EA's Andrew Wilson mentioned in an investor meeting, that the success of ''Monster Hunter'' led to EA greenlighting the title.

Games

''Warriors'' games

The ''Warriors'' series, known in Japan as the series, is an action game series created by Omega Force and published by Koei Tecmo. The meta-series contains various series, such as the ''Dynasty Warriors'' games, the '' One Piece: Pirate Warriors'' games, the ''Warriors Orochi'' games, the ''Samurai Warriors'' games, and various spin-offs.

''Dynasty Warriors''

''Dynasty Warriors'', known in Japan as , is the first and the largest ''Warriors'' subseries. In Japanese, all games after ''Dynasty Warriors 2'' carry the title, but English localizations continue to use ''Dynasty Warriors'', putting all international releases a number ahead of their Japanese counterparts.

= Main series

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= Spin-offs

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''Samurai Warriors''

''Samurai Warriors'', known as is the series based loosely around the Sengoku ("Warring States") period of Japanese history.

''Warriors Orochi'' and ''Warriors All-Stars''

''Warriors Orochi'', known as in Japan, is a series developed by Koei and Omega Force. It is a crossover of ''Dynasty Warriors'' and ''Samurai Warriors''.

Licensed

Other

References

External links

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Japanese companies established in 1996
Koei Tecmo
Video game companies of Japan
Video game development companies
Video game companies established in 1996