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Tose (company)

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Tose Co., Ltd.
Native name
株式会社トーセ
Company typePublic (K.K)
TYO: 4728
IndustryVideo games
FoundedNovember 1979; 45 years ago (1979-11)
Headquarters
Kyoto
,
Japan
Key people
  • Shigeru Saito (Chairman & CEO)
  • Yasuhito Watanabe (President & COO)
ProductsThe Legendary Starfy series
Game & Watch Gallery series
Number of employees
657 (2024)[1]
Websitetose.co.jp

Tose Co., Ltd.[a] (TYO: 4728) (also called Tose Software) is a Japanese video game development company based in Kyoto. It is mostly known for developing Nintendo's Game & Watch Gallery series, various Dragon Ball games, as well as other Nintendo products. Tose has developed or co-developed over 1,000 games since the company's inception in 1979, but is virtually never credited in the games themselves (an exception to this is Scarlet Nexus with Bandai Namco, Game & Watch Gallery 4 and The Legendary Starfy series, as Tose shares the copyright with Nintendo).[2] Tose maintains a policy of having no creative input into the work they do, going so far as to refuse to put their names in the credits for most of the games they work on. As such, Tose has gained a reputation for being a "ghost developer".[3]

History

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Tose was established in November 1979 in Higashiyama-ku, Kyoto, as an independent entity from Toa Seiko Co. Ltd. It moved its head office to Otokuni-gun, Kyoto Prefecture in May 1986. In July 1988, Tose moved its head office to Yamazaki, Kyoto. In May 1990, Tose began developing software for the Game Boy and the Super Famicom.

In August 1999, Tose was listed on the Osaka Securities Exchange 2nd Section and the Kyoto Stock Exchange. In October of that year, Tose's Kyoto Head office was opened at Shijo-Karasuma, which integrated its head office functions with the Karasuma CG Center. On 27 September 2000, Tose was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange 2nd Section.[4] In August 2001, it was listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange 1st Section and Osaka Securities Exchange 1st Section.

On 18 December 2007, Tose announced the leakage of its business information onto the Internet, which was discovered the day before. The leak included 10 pieces of information relating to customer names, development cases, development contents, development fees, and reception time.[5]

On September 1, 2011, Tose announced the separation of its amusement machine development business from its second game development department (ゲーム事業部開発２部) into a separate amusement machine developer (AM開発部).[6]

In July 2024, it was reported that Tose was experiencing financial hardship due to a number of cancelled games from partners including Square Enix and Bandai Namco. For the period covering September 2023 to May 2024 the studio's net sales fell nearly 28%, leading to an operating loss of 599 million yen ($3.7 million).[7]

List of games developed by Tose

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NOTE: Some of these titles are merely believed or assumed to be developed by Tose, due to information compiled by various amateur and professional journalists. Most have not been officially confirmed as Tose-developed products by any of the games' publishers, co-developers, nor Tose itself. Many of the games released by Bandai, Tomy Corporation, Jaleco, Taito, Namco, Tonkin House were developed by Tose.

See also Category:Tose (company) games

Arcade

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Family Computer/Nintendo Entertainment System

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Family Computer Disk System

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Super Famicom/Super NES

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Game Boy

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Game Boy Color

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Game Boy Advance

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Virtual Boy

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Sega Mega Drive/Genesis

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Sega Mega CD/Sega CD

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Sega Saturn

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PlayStation

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Dreamcast

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PlayStation 2

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GameCube

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PlayStation 3

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PlayStation 4

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PlayStation 5

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PlayStation Portable

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PlayStation Vita

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Nintendo DS

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Wii

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Nintendo 3DS

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Wii U

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Nintendo Switch

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PC

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Android, iOS

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  • Fight League (2017)[18]
  • Nijigasaki High School Idol Club TOKIMEKI RunRuns (2022)[19]

3DO Interactive Multiplayer

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WonderSwan

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  • Super Robot Wars Compact (1999)
  • Super Robot Wars Compact 2 (2000-2001)

Games ported by Tose

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Tose has ported a few games, including Square and Enix games for the Nintendo Entertainment System and Super NES.

Notes

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  1. ^ Japanese: 株式会社トーセ, Hepburn: Kabushiki-gaisha Tōse

References

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  1. ^ "Company profile" (PDF). Tose Co., Ltd. May 31, 2024. Retrieved 3 July 2024.
  2. ^ Sheffield, Brandon (2006-05-18). "Tose: Game Development Ninjas". Game Developer. Retrieved 2023-10-18.
  3. ^ Cifaldi, Frank (2006-04-20). "The Connection is Made: Developer Highlights from Game Connection 2006 (Part Two)". Game Developer. Retrieved 2023-10-18.
  4. ^ "TOSE Software-Japan-". 2007-10-27. Archived from the original on 2007-10-27. Retrieved 2023-04-19.
  5. ^ 業務情報の漏洩に関するお知らせ[permanent dead link‍]
  6. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). 2011-10-30. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2011-10-30. Retrieved 2023-04-19.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  7. ^ Serin, Kaan (2024-07-04). "Prolific Japanese outsourcing studio that's quietly worked on Zelda, Final Fantasy, and Resident Evil for over 44 years is in trouble due to game cancellations". gamesradar. Retrieved 2024-07-04.
  8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u Kennedy, Sam (2007-01-24). "Tose: Gaming's Dirty Little Secret". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on 2012-07-16. Retrieved 2009-05-22.
  9. ^ "TOSE Software-Japan-". 2007-10-26. Archived from the original on 2007-10-26. Retrieved 2023-04-19.
  10. ^ Rose, Mike (May 1, 2013). "What the heck is Bullfrog's Theme Aquarium?". Gamasutra. UBM Technology Group. Retrieved 2024-02-25.
  11. ^ "Aquarium (1998) PlayStation release dates". MobyGames. Blue Flame Labs. Retrieved 7 January 2019.
  12. ^ Hill, Doug (October 14, 1999). "Tose to develop for Playstation 2". RPGamer.com. Archived from the original on 2012-09-30. Retrieved 2009-08-16.
  13. ^ Caoili, Eric (December 29, 2010). "Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers' Fan-Translation Trailer". GameSetWatch. Retrieved 2015-05-13.[permanent dead link‍]
  14. ^ Seedhouse, Alex (May 25, 2019). "Star Ocean: First Departure R Announced For Nintendo Switch". Nintendo Insider. Retrieved September 12, 2019.
  15. ^ "Supported the development of "Splatoon2" for Nintendo Switch (TM). | News | TOSE CO., LTD". www.tose.co.jp. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  16. ^ "3rd Quarter of Fiscal Year Ending August 31, 2023" (PDF). Tose Co, Ltd.
  17. ^ "Works | TOSE CO., LTD". Archived from the original on July 5, 2024. Retrieved July 14, 2024.
  18. ^ "Supported the development of smartphone app, "Fight League（TM）". | News | TOSE CO., LTD". www.tose.co.jp. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  19. ^ "TOSE group developed "Nijigasaki High School idol club TOKIMEKI RunRuns", one of LOVE LIVE! series. | News | TOSE CO., LTD". www.tose.co.jp. Retrieved 2022-08-13.
  20. ^ "Nintendo Power Holiday 2008". Nintendo Power. Vol. 236. 2008. p. 82.
  21. ^ Zelda Breath Of The Wild Playthrough - Credits, 7 March 2017, retrieved 2022-12-13
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