Taito Corporation

About

Taito is a Japanese arcade and console game developer, best known for Space Invaders and other arcade hits. Since 2005, Taito has been a wholly-owned subsidiary of Square Enix Holdings Co. Ltd.

Taito Trading Company is a Japanese game company that was founded in 1953 by a Russian business man. They originally started out importing vending machines, juke boxes and anything of that ilk before moving on to actually making their own pinball and arcade games in the early 70's, it was at this time that they renamed themselves to Taito Corporation. Following arcade hits like Speed Race and Gun Fight, they released their biggest hit in 1978, Space Invaders, which took the world by storm, even causing a coin shortage in Japan.

They continued to produce arcade hits after that, such as Arkanoid, Bubble Bobble, and Chase HQ, as well as early 3D games like Top Landing. By 1988, Taito was operating 100,000 arcade machines in Japan. However, the company began declining in the 1990's.

In late 2005, Square Enix bought 93. 7% of Taito's shares, thus becoming a wholly-owned subsidiary. The company has since recovered, and has had some recent hits in Japanese arcades, such as the Gunslinger Stratos series.

Subsidiaries

Taito owns the following subsidiaries:

Effort Co. , Ltd.

Amusement Co. , Ltd.

Beijing Taixin

Taito Korea

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