Vanillaware

Vanillaware Ltd.
Industry Video game industry
Predecessor Puraguru
Founded February 8, 2002 (as Puraguru)[1]
Headquarters Chūō-ku, Osaka, Japan[1]
Key people
 George Kamitani (president and game director)
Products GrimGrimoire
Odin Sphere
Muramasa
Dragon's Crown
Number of employees
 26 (as of January 2016)[1]
Website vanillaware.co.jp

Vanillaware Ltd. (ヴァニラウェア有限会社, Vanirawea Yūgen-gaisha) is a Japanese video game developer. Previously, it was known as Puraguru from 2002 until 2004, when it renamed as Vanillaware. The studio's past projects have specialized in 2D, or sprite-based, game design. They have garnered positive attention from fans and game media alike for embracing 2D game design [2] in a market dominated by 3D games. The company was formed from members of the Atlus project team which had developed Princess Crown for the Sega Saturn in 1997.

Company history

Vanillaware was founded under the name Puraguru in February 2002 by former employees of Atlus, including game director George Kamitani and two others, who had all previously been part of the development team of Princess Crown for the Sega Saturn in 1997.[3] At the time, Kamitani was working for Square Enix as developmental director for its PC title Fantasy Earth: Zero, and had previously been employed by other video game companies such as Capcom, where he worked on arcade titles like Dungeons & Dragons: Tower of Doom,[4] and Racjin, where he served in an outsourced capacity.[5] In 2004, the company changed its name to Vanillaware Ltd.,[3] and has since made a commitment to produce games that primarily feature 2D graphics as opposed to more mainstream 3D works.[6] The company uses proprietary programming toolsets inspired by Adobe Flash, as well as a graphic development process known as tebineri or "hand-shaping", which allows the artists to create characters and environments that look 3D but are rendered entirely from two-dimensional pixels.[6]

The company's first completed game was Odin Sphere for the PlayStation 2, which was published by Atlus. Though the title was finished in 2006, Atlus withheld the game from release until May 2007 due to the popularity of its own in-house role-playing game Persona 3 to avoid conflicting sales.[5] Though development on its second project, GrimGrimoire did not begin until after Odin Sphere was completed, it was actually released one month before in Japan and was published by Nippon Ichi Software.[5] By 2009, the company had grown to 21 employees, whom Kamitani described as "Basically, 100 percent" artists, and in the same year it released its first game for the Wii, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, published by Ignition Entertainment.[5] Its partnership with Ignition would later produce Dragon's Crown for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita, a game Kamitani had been pitching to publishers for nearly 13 years before it eventually saw development.[7]

Games

GameRelease dateSystemPublisher(s)JPNAEU
GrimGrimoireApril 12, 2007PlayStation 2Nippon Ichi Software (JP)YesYesYes
June 26, 2007NIS America (NA)
September 28, 2007Koei (EU)
Odin SphereMay 17, 2007PlayStation 2Atlus (JP)YesYesYes
May 22, 2007Atlus USA (NA)
March 14, 2008Square Enix (EU)
Kumatanchi[8]September 25, 2008Nintendo DSDimple EntertainmentYesNoNo
Muramasa: The Demon BladeApril 9, 2009WiiMarvelous Entertainment (JP)YesYesYes
September 8, 2009Ignition Entertainment (NA)
November 27, 2009Rising Star Games (EU)
Grand Knights History[9]September 1, 2011PlayStation PortableMarvelous EntertainmentYesNoNo
CancelledXSEED Games (NA)a
Rising Star Games (EU)a
Muramasa RebirthMarch 28, 2013PlayStation VitaMarvelous AQL (JP)YesYesYes
June 25, 2013Aksys Games (NA)
October 16, 2013Aksys Games (EU)b
Dragon's Crown[10]July 25, 2013PlayStation 4 PlayStation 3
PlayStation Vita		Atlus (JP)YesYesYes
August 6, 2013Atlus USA (NA)c
October 11, 2013NIS America (EU)
Odin Sphere Leifthrasir[11]January 14, 2016PlayStation 4
PlayStation 3
PlayStation Vita		Atlus (JP)YesYesYes
June 7, 2016Atlus USA (NA)
June 24, 2016NIS America (EU)
13 Sentinels: Aegis RimTBA 2018PlayStation 4
PlayStation Vita		Atlus (JP)YesYesTBA
Atlus USA (NA)
Notes

^a Announced for localization but later cancelled.
^b Digital-only.
^c Originally to be published by Ignition Entertainment but company folded during localization.

References

  1. 1 2 3 ヴァニラウェア有限会社 (in Japanese). Vanillaware. Retrieved 2011-08-08.
  2. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (2007-09-05). "Odin Sphere Developer Reveals Wii Project". Kotaku. Archived from the original on 2013-01-03. Retrieved 2011-08-08.
  3. 1 2 Mielke, James (2006-06-27). "GrimGrimoire Developer Interviewed". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-08-17.
  4. ↑ Gifford, Kevin (2011-07-18). "Vanillaware's George Kamitani on Dragon's Crown". 1UP.com. Archived from the original on 2012-10-19. Retrieved 2011-07-20.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Sheffield, Brandon (2009-08-03). "King of 2D: Vanillaware's George Kamitani (Page 1)". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2011-08-08.
  6. 1 2 Sheffield, Brandon (2009-08-03). "King of 2D: Vanillaware's George Kamitani (Page 2)". Gamasutra. Retrieved 2011-08-08.
  7. ↑ Spencer (2011-06-20). "Dragon's Crown Interview Details Creation Of Vanillaware's 13 Year Old Game". Siliconera. Retrieved 2011-07-18.
  8. ↑ Savino, Candace (2008-06-02). "Kumatanchi looks like a vanilla Vanillaware game". Joystiq. Retrieved 2011-08-08.
  9. ↑ Spencer (2011-03-29). "Grand Knights History Is The Next Title From Vanillaware And Marvelous". Siliconera. Retrieved 2011-08-08.
  10. ↑ Gilbert, Ben (2011-06-07). "Dragon's Crown announced as VanillaWare's next project, coming to PS3/Vita". Joystiq. Retrieved 2011-08-08.
  11. ↑ "Odin Sphere: Leifdrasir announced for PS4, PS3, and PS Vita". Gematsu. July 20, 2015.
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