Masafumi Miyamoto
Masashi Miyamoto (宮本 雅史, Miyamoto Masashi, born 1957) was the founder of Square in 1986.
Square Co. LTD
Square Founding
In 1986 Square Co. LTD was founded, and the focus was making games for the Famicom video game system in Japan.[1] Masashi Miyamoto was not interested in joining his father's conglomerate, and pondered a career in women's clothing manufacturing.[2] After graduating from Waseda University in 1983, he started developing computer game software in the Den-Yu-Sha division in Yokohama.[2] Initially, he was the president of the company which was a subsidiary of Denyuusha (which was owned by his father). While at the time game development was usually conducted by only one programmer, Miyamoto believed that it would be more efficient to have graphic designers, programmers and professional story writers working together on common projects.[3] His initial staff was composed solely of university students working for him on a part-time basis. Two of his first staff members were Hironobu Sakaguchi and Hiromichi Tanaka, both of whom quit university to work at Square full-time after Square's first game The Death Trap was released.
Departure
In 1992, he left the company to pursue other interests, and Tetsuo Mizuno replaced him as president of Square. On departure, he still owned 50% of his company.
Square-Enix Merger
During the discussion of the merger of Square and Enix in 2002, his approval of the merger was essential because of his major stake in Square.[4] Initially, the ratio of Square shares was to be 1 to .81 shares of Enix, which Miyamoto objected to.[5] When the merger went through, 1 share of Square resulted in 0.85 shares of Enix.[6] Miyamoto made 5 million shares, or 9% of the company, available for purchases in the summer of 2002, but still retained 31.04% ownership.[7] He is currently the fourth largest shareholder of Square Enix.[8]
References
- ^ Chun, Michelle (March 18, 2002). "SquareSoft: What's Behind the Hype?" (PDF). Stanford University. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ a b Fujii, Daiji (January 1, 2005). "The Birth of "Final Fantasy": Square Corporation" (PDF). 岡山大学経済学会雑誌37(1): 63-88. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ Fujii, Daiji (January 2006). "Entrepreneurial choices of strategic options in Japan's RPG development" (PDF). Faculty of Economics, Okayama University. Archived from the original (PDF) on October 8, 2006. Retrieved April 26, 2008.
{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires|journal=(help) - ^ "Masafumi Miyamoto".
- ^ Quiter (January 1, 2003). "Square Enix Merger Gets Green Light from Miyamoto". RPGFan. Retrieved February 26, 2013.
- ^ "Square Enix: 2004 Annual Report" (PDF). Square Enix. August 6, 2004. p. 12. Retrieved December 3, 2011.
- ^ "Square Sells Stock Abroad". IGN. July 8, 2002. Retrieved February 26, 2013.