Taito

Taito
Type	Subsidiary of Square Enix
Founded	August 24, 1953 (Taito Trading Co., Ltd.) 1972 (Taito Corporation) June 22, 1999 (The Game Designers Studio) 2005 (SQEX Corporation) 2006 (Taito Corporation - merger with SQEX) June 1, 2009 (ES1 Corporation) February 1, 2010 (Taito Soft Corporation and Taito Corporation)
Headquarters	Tokyo, Japan
Key people	Michael Kogan (Taito) Akitoshi Kawazu (Game Designers Studio)
Industry	video games
Products	Video games
Number of people	645
Website	http://www.taito.com/

Taito Corporation is a subsidiary of Square Enix.

Taito Trading Co., Ltd.

Taito was founded by Michael Kogan on August 24, 1953 as Taito Trading Co., Ltd. (太東貿易株式会社, Taitō Bōeki Kabushiki Gaisha).

Taito Corporation

The company changed its name to Taito Corporation (株式会社タイトー, Kabushiki Gaisha Taitō) in August 1972.

Aquisition by Kyocera

In March 1986, Taito became part of the Kyocera group.

The Game Designers Studio

On June 22, 1999, Square formed The Game Designers Studio, Inc., a shell company that allowed them to get around a deal with Sony that stipulated they would create games exclusively for PlayStation video game consoles.

Square owned 49% of the company and Akitoshi Kawazu, the head of Square's Product Development Division-2, owned 51%.

SQEX Corporation

In 2003, Square and Enix merged to form Square Enix.

In 2005, Square Enix renamed The Game Designers Studio to SQEX Corporation.

Aquisition by Square Enix

On September 22, 2005, Square Enix purchased 97.3% of all stock holdings in Taito when it purchased 247,900 shares for ¥45.16 billion ($409.1 million USD).

In March 2006, Taito was delisted from the Tokyo Stock Exchange when it became a wholly-owned subsidiary of Square Enix.

Merger with SQEX Corporation

In March 2006, Taito Corporation was merged with SQEX Corporation. The resulting company retained the name Taito Corporation.

ES1 Corporation

On June 1, 2009, Square Enix formed ES1 Corporation, a company that operated arcade facilities.

Taito Soft Corporation and Taito Corporation

On February 1, 2010, in an effort by Square Enix to consolidate its arcade divisions, Taito Corporation was renamed Taito Soft Corporation and ES1 Corporation was renamed Taito Corporation.

Absorption of Taito Soft Corporation into Square Enix

On March 11, 2010, Taito Soft Corporation was absorbed into Square Enix. As a result, Taito Corporation was the only division of Square Enix that retained the Taito name.

Video games developed by Taito

Title	Platforms	Released	Notes
Space Invaders	Arcade	1978
Lunar Rescue	Arcade	1979
Lupin III	Arcade	1980
Polaris	Arcade	1980
Steel Worker	Arcade	1980
Alpine Ski	Arcade	1981
Marine Date	Arcade	1981
Qix	Arcade	1981
Space Seeker	Arcade	1981
Adventure Canoe	Arcade	1982
Birdie King	Arcade	1982
Front Line	Arcade	1982
Jungle Hunt	Arcade	1982
Pirate Pete	Arcade	1982
Strike Bowling	Arcade	1982
Time Tunnel	Arcade	1982
Wild Western	Arcade	1982
Elevator Action	Arcade	1983
Chack'n Pop	Arcade	1983
High Way Race	Arcade	1983
Water Ski	Arcade	1983
Ben Bero Beh	Arcade	1984
Bubble Symphony	Arcade	1984
Outer Zone	Arcade	1984
Sea Fighter Poseidon	Arcade	1984
Typhoon Gal	Arcade	1984
The Fairyland Story	Arcade	1985
The Legend of Kage	Arcade	1985
Arkanoid	Arcade	1986
Bubble Bobble	Arcade	1986
Halley's Comet	Arcade	1986
Kiki KaiKai	Arcade	1986
Renegade	Arcade	1986	Taito localized the Technōs game Nekketsu Renegade Kunio-kun for the North American market.
Scramble Formation	Arcade	1986
Arkanoid: Return of Doh	Arcade	1987
Darius	Arcade	1987
The Ninja Warriors	Arcade	1987
Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2	Arcade	1987
Plump Pop	Arcade	1986
Rastan Saga	Arcade	1987
Bonze Adventure	Arcade	1988
Fighting Hawk	Arcade	1988
The Final Round	Arcade	1988
Kuri Kinton	Arcade	1988
The New Zealand Story	Arcade	1988
Raimais	Arcade	1988
Rainbow Islands Extra Version	Arcade	1988	Enhanced version of 1987's Rainbow Islands: The Story of Bubble Bobble 2.
Rastan Saga II	Arcade	1988
Syvalion	Arcade	1988
Tatsujin	Arcade	1988
Cadash	Arcade	1989
Cameltry	Arcade	1989
Championship Wrestler	Arcade	1989
Crime City	Arcade	1989
Darius II	Arcade	1989
Don Doko Don	Arcade	1989
Flipull	Arcade	1989
Master of Weapon	Arcade	1989
Megablast	Arcade	1989
Plotting	Arcade	1989
Volified	Arcade	1989
Violence Fight	Arcade	1989
Volified	Arcade	1989
Darius Alpha	PC Engine	1990	Promotional version of Darius Plus containing only bosses with optional SuperGrafx enhancement.
Darius Plus	PC Engine	1990	Enhanced port of 1987's Darius with optional SuperGrafx enhancement.
Football Champ	Arcade	1990
Growl	Arcade	1990
Gun Frontier	Arcade	1990
Hat Trick Hero	Arcade	1990
Liquid Kids	Arcade	1990
The Ninja Kids	Arcade	1990
Super Darius	PC Engine CD-ROM²	1990	CD-ROM Enhanced port of 1987's Darius.
Thunder Fox	Arcade	1990
Metal Black	Arcade	1991
Parasol Stars: The Story of Bubble Bobble III	Amiga, Atari ST, Game Boy, NES, PC Engine	1991
Solitary Fighter	Arcade	1991
Space Cruiser	Arcade	1991
Warrior Blade	Arcade	1991
Dead Connection	Arcade	1992
Dinorex	Arcade	1992
RayForce	Arcade	1993
Darius Gaiden	Arcade	1994
Elevator Action Returns	Arcade	1994
Kaiser Knuckle	Arcade	1994
Bubble Memories	Arcade	1995
Puzzle Bobble 2	Arcade	1995
Puzzle Bobble 2X	Arcade	1995	Included an optional alternative set of levels and new attract mode animations.
Arkanoid Returns	Arcade	1997
Puchi Carat	Arcade	1997
Puzzle Bobble Mini	Neo Geo Pocket Color	1999
Dan-Ku-Ga	EGRET II Mini	2022	Previously unreleased update of 1995's Kaiser Knuckle.