Imagineer
Imagineer Co., Ltd (イマジニア株式会社, Imajinia kabushiki gaisha) is a Japanese video game developer and publisher, and the primary stakeholder of the Medarot franchise. Notable productions include co-developing the hardware of the Famicom Disk System Disk Fax device, the Japanese releases of various popular western home computer games, the Nintendo 64 RPG Quest 64 and the Fitness Boxing series.
The company was founded as a subsidiary of holding company Misawa Homes in 1986 with the purpose of researching the use of computer imagery in housing plans and school software. The company soon spun off and shifted focus toward consumer game development, with a stated specialization toward games designed for adult audiences.
History
Imagineer held meetings with publisher Kodansha on creating a multimedia franchise, with a vague idea of having it center around robots[1]. Mangaka Rin Horuma (who had recently published a special in the summer issue of Kodansha's Comic BomBom magazine) was eventually brought onto the project. His ideas served as the basis of the final form of Medarot. Development of the Medarot games was outsourced to Natsume.
Following the release of Medarot 4, Imagineer decided to step away from the packaged game market in favour of mobile software and staff that advocated for continued development of Medarot left one after the other[1]. As Natsume remained interested in continuing the series, the primary direction of the franchise was handed over to them, although Imagineer would retained publishing and licensing rights. After Natsume itself discontinued further development on Medarot after the release of Medarot Brave, Imagineer announced its return to Medarot game development with Shingata Medarot, but the game proved to be a financial failure.
In 2009, Imagineer announced plans to restart Medarot and released Medarot DS in 2010, developed by its new subsidiary Delta Arts. Most Medarot titles since then have been developed internally at Imagineer.
Subsidiaries
Rocket Company
- Main article: Rocket Company
A game company founded by former employees of Smilesoft, it was acquired by Imagineer on March 30, 2005 to serve as its consumer game division. The company handled publishing of all Medarot games from Shingata Medarot to Medarot Girls Mission. It was absorbed back into Imagineer in July 2016.
Delta Arts
- Main article: Delta Arts
A game developer founded on October 6, 2005 by staff of Tenkey. Rocket Company purchased shares in May 2006, eventually making it an Imagineer subsidiary. The company developed Medarot DS, Medarot 7, Medarot 8 and Medarot 9, and was shut down in April 2016.
SoWhat
- Main article: SoWhat
A consolidated subsidiary established in 2015. It is the developer of Medarot S: Unlimited Nova.
Notable employees
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 その人の人生にとって“輝く場所”を作りたい――現在「メダロット」チームを束ねるうのへえ氏に「メダロット」シリーズのこれまでを聞 (December 28. 2019). 4gamer.net. Retrieved May 24, 2024
