The Game Designers Studio

The Game Designers Studio, Inc. (株式会社ゲームデザイナーズ・スタジオ, Kabushiki gaisha Geimudezainaazu Sutajio) was a shell corporation founded in June 1999 by Square. The Game Designers Studio was re-purposed in 2002 in order to bypass a loophole with Square's exclusivity deal to develop for Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation consoles. To evade that deal, Square held only 49% of the entity's shares while Akitoshi Kawazu, head of Square's Product Development Division 2, held 51%. The formation of a new company also made it possible to take advantage of the Nintendo Q fund for new game developers who develop for the GameCube. The Game Designers Studio only released a single game, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles the de facto developed by Square Enix's Product Development Division 2 with development credit to The Game Designers Studio while publishing was done by Nintendo. Square merged with Enix in 2003 and formed Square Enix while Crystal Chronicles was still in development. Square Enix later acquired 100% of Game Designers Studio and renamed it to SQEX Corporation in 2005. After the acquisition of Taito in 2005, Square Enix merged it into SQEX in March 2006. The merger was performed to allow Square Enix to make Taito a wholly owned subsidiary. Despite the new subsidiary being called Taito Corporation, SQEX was the surviving company of the merger. On February 1, 2010, in order for Square Enix to consolidate all of its arcade businesses, Taito Corporation (formerly SQEX) was renamed Taito Soft Corporation. Another company, ES1 Corporation, became the new Taito Corporation. Taito Soft Corporation was absorbed into Square Enix on March 11, 2010, effectively ending the company that started out as The Game Designers Studio.