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The (commonly referred to as Taito) is a Japanese video game publisher of arcade hardwares and mobile phones, and an operator of video arcades. It is also a former publisher of home video games. Taito is a wholly owned by publisher Square Enix. It has its headquarters in the Shinjuku Bunka Quint Building in Yoyogi, Shibuya, Tokyo,〔"(Company Overview )." Taito Corporation. Retrieved on January 30, 2011. "Head Office 15F, Shinjuku Bunka Quint Bldg,3-22-7 Yoyogi,Shibuya-ku,Tokyo 151-8648,JAPAN."〕 sharing the facility with its parent company.〔"(Corporate Profile )." Square Enix Corporation. Retrieved on January 30, 2011. "Headquarters Shinjuku Bunka Quint Bldg. 3-22-7 Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku,Tokyo 151-8544, Japan."〕〔"(Map )." Square Enix Corporation. Retrieved on January 30, 2011. "Location Shinjuku Bunka Quint Bldg. 3-22-7 Yoyogi, Shibuya-ku, Tokyo 151-8544, Japan."〕 Taito is known for producing hit arcade games, such as ''Space Invaders'' and ''Bubble Bobble''. It has produced arcade games all around the world, while also importing and distributing American coin-op video games in Japan. Taito owns several arcades in Japan known as ''Taito Stations'' or ''Game Taito Stations''. Taito Corporation currently has a subsidiary in Beijing, China. In the past, the company had operated divisions in North America, Brazil, South Korea, Italy and the United Kingdom. ==History== The company was founded in 1953 by a Russian Jewish businessman named Michael Kogan as . Taito started out importing and distributing vending machines. It was also the first company to distill and sell vodka in Japan.〔(【引用サイトリンク】 title=Looking At Taito’s history As They Turn 60 )〕 Later, it began leasing jukeboxes and eventually started to manufacture its own. Taito began producing electro-mechanical arcade games in the 1960s. Taito changed its name from Taito Trading Company to Taito Corporation in 1972 and introduced its first video arcade game in 1973. Many of its early arcades games saw release in America by Midway, a Chicago area-based arcade manufacturer with strong ties to Taito. In 1978 Toshihiro Nishikado, a designer at Taito, created ''Space Invaders'' which became the company's most popular title ever and one of the most memorable games in arcade history, responsible for beginning the golden age of arcade video games. Taito opened in 1973 its Taito America division.〔http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.ca/2013/11/video-game-firsts.html〕 In its first years, Taito America's sole purpose was to handle the licensing of Taito's video games to American third party publishers. It wasn't until the late 1970s that Taito America began to self-publish Taito's video games in North America. Initially based in Elk Grove Village, Illinois, Taito America relocated to nearby Wheeling in 1985. While the majority of Taito America's catalog were titles that were originally released in Japan by its parent company, it did also publish video games licensed from third-party companies, as well as games that were developed in the United States for Taito. In May 1988, Taito Software, the division of Taito America responsible for non-arcade operations, opened its own office in North Vancouver, British Columbia. While manufacturing and distribution of Taito arcade video games in North America continued to be handled in Wheeling, the North Vancouver unit became in charge of releasing video games for Nintendo's products and the computer market. However, by early 1991, the Vancouver location had completely shut down, and publishing of home video games returned in Wheeling. Taito America ceased operations in 1995 after more than 20 years of existence. Video games from Taito Corporation are still available in North America to this day, but they now bear the name of other publishers. Taito has many well known arcade video games. ''Space Invaders'' (1978) is probably the most notable, but games such as ''Speed Race'' (1974), ''Gun Fight'' (1975), ''Qix'' (1981), ''Jungle Hunt'' (1982), ''Elevator Action'' (1983), ''Buggy Challenge'' (1984), ''Bubble Bobble'' (1986), ''Takeshi no Chōsenjō'' (1986), ''Chase H.Q.'' (1988), ''Puzznic'' (1989), ''Kick Master'' (1992), ''Gun Buster'' (1992) and ''Puzzle Bobble'' (1994) are all part of Taito's library. Taito also had a license from Hanna-Barbera to do games based on ''The Flintstones'' and ''The Jetsons''. In 1992, Taito announced a CD-ROM-based console system named WOWOW, that would have allowed people to play near-exact ports of Taito's arcades (similar to the Neo Geo), as well as download games from a satellite transmission (as the Satellaview would do later). It was named after the Japanese television station WOWOW and would have utilized its stations to download games. The WOWOW was never released. When Taito was owned by Kyocera, its headquarters were in Hirakawachō, Chiyoda.〔"(Company Outline )." Taito Corporation. January 11, 1998. Retrieved on January 30, 2011 "Head Office 2-5-3 Hirakawa-cho,Chiyoda-ku,Tokyo 102,JAPAN." (Address in Japanese ): "東京都千代田区平河町二丁目５番３号"〕 Taito entered the Tokyo Stock Exchange in January 1993, listed in the Second Section. It transitioned to the First Section in September 2003. On August 22, 2005, it was announced that gaming giant Square Enix would purchase 247,900 Taito shares worth ¥45.16 billion (US$409.1 million), to make Taito Corporation a subsidiary of Square Enix. The purpose of the takeover by Square Enix was to both increase Taito's profit margin exponentially as well as begin its company's expansion into new forms of gaming (most notably, the arcade scene), and various other entertainment venues. The takeover bid from Square Enix was accepted by previous stockholder Kyocera, making Taito an official Square Enix subsidiary. On September 22, 2005, Square Enix announced successfully acquiring 93.7% of all shares of Taito, effectively owning the company by September 28, 2015 . By March, 2006 Taito became a subsidiary wholly owned by Square Enix and was delisted from the First Section of the Tokyo Stock Exchange.〔 Square Enix officially announced on July 28, 2008 that it would liquidate two subsidiaries of Taito, ''Taito Art Corporation'' and ''Taito Tech Co., Ltd.'' on the grounds that both had fulfilled their business purpose. The process officially ended in October 2008. On February 2010, Taito's unit for home video games split into a separate company called Taito Soft Corporation (not to be confused with Taito Software, the North American division of the late 1980s).〔 On March 21, 2011, Taito Soft was folded into Square Enix.〔https://www.taito.co.jp/corporate/topics/news/1370〕 All of Taito's franchises for video game consoles in Japan are now published by Square Enix though these games continue to feature the Taito logotype and copyright. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Taito Corporation」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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