Arc System Works


Arc System Works Co., Ltd. is a video game developer and publisher located in Yokohama. Founded by Minoru Kidooka in 1988, the company is known for arcade 2D fighting game franchises, including Guilty Gear and BlazBlue, as well as other licensed-based fighting games for Dragon Ball and Persona 4.

History

The company was founded as Arc Co., Ltd in January 1988, and was later established in May. It consisted at the time of around eight developers; most of whom had previously worked at Sega including founder Minoru Kidooka. The company spent early years as a contract developer for Sega, Sammy and Banpresto. It was renamed Arc System Works in 1991 and published its first title in 1995.
On June 11, 2015, the company acquired all intellectual properties of Technōs Japan, such as Double Dragon and Kunio-Kun, from Million Co., Ltd. Even prior to its acquisition of Million's library, the company had been the publisher of Technōs' video games for Virtual Console in Japan. Following the transaction, the company took the publishing duties from Aksys Games for Virtual Console releases in North America, though some Technōs games were already published by Arc System Works.
On February 6, 2017, the company acquired the rights to the Jake Hunter, Theresia, Nazo no Jikenbo, and Koneko no Ie series from publisher WorkJam. On November 2, 2017, the company announced the establishment of a North American branch in Torrance, California known as Arc System Works America, Inc.

Games developed

Games published