taito this article is about a company for the ward in tokyo see tait tokyo for other uses see taito disambiguation taito corporationnative nameromanized namekabushikigaisha taittypekabushiki gaisha subsidiary industry video game industryfoundedaugust 24 1953 as taito trading companyfoundermichael koganheadquartersshinjuku tokyo japankey peoplekoichi ishiiparentsquare enix holdingswebsitewwwtaitocom taito corporation kabushiki gaisha tait taito is known for producing arcade games such as space invaders bubble bobble and arkanoid its arcade games found success around the world taito also imports and distributes american coinop video games in japan where it owns several arcades known as taito stations or game taito stations taito has its headquarters in the shinjuku bunka quint building in yoyogi shibuya tokyo in the past the company had operated divisions in north america brazil south korea italy the united kingdom and china history the company was founded in 1953 by a ukrainian jewish businessman named michael kogan as taito trading co ltd tait tordingu kabushiki gaisha taito started out importing and distributing vending machines it was the first company to distill and sell vodka in japan later it began leasing jukeboxes and eventually started to manufacture its own taito began producing electromechanical arcade games in the 1960s taito changed its name from taito trading company to taito corporation in august 1972 and introduced its first video arcade game in 1973 several of its early arcades games saw release in north america by midway a chicago areabased arcade manufacturer with strong ties to taito in 1978 toshihiro nishikado a designer at taito created space invaders which became the companys most popular title 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 in its first years taito americas sole purpose was to handle the licensing of taitos video games to american third party publishers it was not until the late 1970s that taito america began to selfpublish taitos 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 americas catalog were titles that were originally released in japan by its parent company it did also publish video games licensed from thirdparty companies as well as games that were developed in the united states for taito logo until 1988 in april 1986 and barely a month after becoming part of the kyocera group taito merged with two of its subsidiaries pacific industrial co ltd and the japan vending machine co ltd and absorbed them both in august 1988 on the occasion of its 35th anniversary the company changed its logo to the current one in april 1988 taito software the subsidiary of taito america responsible for nonarcade operations opened its own office in north vancouver british columbia by early 1991 taito software had completely shut down and publishing of home video games returned in wheeling taito america ceased operations in july 1996 after more than 20 years of existence taito has developed many arcade video games space invaders 1978 is most notable other titles include speed race 1974 gun fight 1975 qix 1981 jungle hunt 1982 elevator action 1983 buggy challenge 1984 bubble bobble 1986 takeshi no chsenj 1986 chase hq 1988 puzznic 1989 kick master 1992 gun buster 1992 and puzzle bobble 1994 taito also had a license from hannabarbera to produce games based on the flintstones and the jetsons several of taitos video games that were released for the famicom and the super famicom in japan were a joint venture with disco corporation disco corporation was established in july 1972 by taito as a subsidiary to import and sale home electronic products in 1992 taito announced a cdrombased video game console named wowow that would have allowed people to play nearexact ports of taitos 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 taito ebina development center in ebina kanagawa prefecture opened in 1979 it closed in 2014 when taito was owned by kyocera its headquarters were in hirakawach chiyoda on august 22 2005 it was announced that the gaming conglomerate square enix would purchase 247900 taito shares worth 4516 billion us4091 million to make taito corporation a subsidiary of square enix square enix announced on july 28 2008 that it would liquidate two subsidiaries of taito taito art corporation an insurance and travel agent subsidiary and taito tech co ltd a amusement and maintenance subsidiary on the grounds that both had fulfilled their business purpose the process ended in october 2008 bust of founder michael kogan by daniel baharier in february 2010 taitos 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 all of taitos franchises for video game consoles in japan are since published by square enix on november 30 2016 taito announced that it will distribute space invaders and arkanoid for facebook with instant games on facebook messenger and facebook news feed on july 3 2018 taito announced in famitsu that it will return to the software publishing business for the eighth generation of video game consoles the intention to return to the home console market came about because the company decided that it would be necessary to release taitos intellectual properties on current platforms in order to increase profit the company has various properties planned in its software pipeline from rereleases to new titles for various platforms however taito highlighted that the console software market is a challenging business for the company taito intends to develop original games for consoles in the future mergers taito corporation has incarnated three different companies over the course of its existence the mergers conducted in 2006 and 2010 were achieved in order for taito to adapt to the business requirements of its parent company square enix first company taito corporation 19532006 the company was founded as taito trading company in 1972 the name of the company was changed to taito corporation second company merger of taito and sqex corporation 20062010 in march 2006 square enix which already owned 93 of the company wanted to make taito a wholly owned subsidiary sqex was established on june 22 1999 under the name the game designers studio as a shell corporation of the defunct square co ltd it was renamed to sqex corporation in 2005 once square was absorbed enix and purchased the company as a subsidiary the game designer studios was used by square in order to exploit the loophole with its exclusivity deal to develop for sonys playstation consoles third company taito and es1 merging as taito corporation 2010present square enix holdings wanted all of its arcade operations to be regrouped into one subsidiary and so the third and present taito corporation came to being on february 1 2010 by merging taito corporation formerly sqexgame designers studio with es1 corporation during the merger with taito corporation the second company to become itself the new taito corporation es1 inherited all of taitos arcade and mobile businesses and nearly the totality of its employees taito soft corporation was eventually merged into square enix in march 2010 and dissolved es1 corporation was established on june 1 2009 as an operator of arcade facilities taito portal japan portal tokyo portal companies portal video games portal list of taito games square enix taito of brazil official website the taito project from emulation status arcade games manufactured by taito at arcadehistorycom taito corporation vtesquare enixsquareenixvideo game development square enix europe beautiful game studios crystal dynamics eidos montral square enix montreal taito other industries gangan comics playonline visual works lists of video games square enix mobile enix home computer square square enix europe crystal dynamics eidos taito list of franchises key people yoshinori kitase shinji hashimoto tetsuya nomura hajime tabata hiromichi tanaka takashi tokita naoki yoshida yoichi wada defunct digicube eidos hungary quest corporation the game designers studio related articles compilation albums companion books dsstyle io interactive localization of square enix video games luminous studio nesicaxlive nesys rocksteady studios taito type x zuntata category vtesquare enix video game franchisessquare enix 7th saga actraiser all star prowrestling bravely bushido blade bust a groove chaos rings chocobo chrono death trap dragon quest drakengard e v o final fantasy fortune street front mission hanjuku hero kingdom hearts lord of vermilion mana million arthur musashi ogre parasite eve rad racer saga schoolgirl strikers slime star ocean tobal valkyrie profile wonder project worldrunner square enix europe battlestations championship manager conflict deus ex dungeon siege eclipse fear effect fighting force gangsters gex heimdall just cause kane lynch legacy of kain life is strange mini ninjas pandemonium shellshock supreme commander swiv thief thunderhawk tomb raider urban chaos taito arkanoid battle gear birdie king bubble bobble puzzle bobble rainbow islands chaos heat chase cleopatra fortune darius densha de go don doko don elevator action exit gunslinger stratos halley hat trick hero legend of kage kiki kaikai lufia ninja warriors operation power blade psychic force qix rakugaki koku rastan ray sonic blast man space invaders groove coaster speed race violence fight vtespace invaders seriesgames space invaders extreme get even extreme 2 infinity gene spinoffs pepsi invaders space raiders arkanoid vs space invaders groove coaster vtebubble bobble seriesbubble bobble bubble bobble part 2 bubble symphony bubble memories revolution evolution double shot plus neo rainbow islands rainbow islands the story of bubble bobble 2 parasol stars revolution evolution towering adventure puzzle bobble bustamove puzzle bobble 2 2x 3 99 4 psychic force puzzle taisen pocket super 3000 millennium azumanga daioh ds bash space plus new universe related games chackn pop the fairyland story the newzealand story liquid kids puzzle de pon popn pop vtedarius seriesarcade darius darius ii darius gaiden gdarius console games darius twin darius force dariusburst related games syvalion gun frontier metal black vteqix series qix qix iitournament volfied qix vtevisual worksfeature films final fantasy vii advent children kingsglaive final fantasy xv video game franchises deus ex dragon quest drakengard final fantasy gunslinger stratos hitman kingdom hearts parasite eve tomb raider standalone video games the bouncer chrono cross densha de go thief vagrant story xenogears vtekyocerasubsidiaries andbrandscurrent avx corporation kyocera communications kyocera unimerco former contax klh taito yashica products andservicesmobile phones 6035 c4700 e3100 echo kyocera hydro k127 kx16 kx414 slider sonic strobe zio other contax g contax i4r trs80 model 100 other kazuo inamori kyocera inamori classic kyocera stadion yasuo nishiguchi category commons 