Koei Tecmo is a video game developer and publisher based in Yokohama, Japan.
Profile[]
On September 8, 2008, the game development companies Koei and Tecmo announced a formal merger of operations. Tecmo, originally founded in 1967 as Tehkan Ltd., was strictly a seller of coin-op machines for most of its history until the company began releasing its own arcade titles in 1981. The company changed its name to Tecmo in 1986, and over the years became known for titles such as Ninja Gaiden, Fatal Frame, Dead or Alive, and Tecmo Bowl. Koei, founded in 1978 by husband and wife Yoichi and Keiko Erikawa, became established with long-running historical strategy game series such as Nobunaga's Ambition and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, as well as pioneering the otome game genre, or romance-themed games targeted toward women, with series such as Angelique.
In 2011, Koei Tecmo bought the development studio Gust, known primarily for RPGs such as the Atelier series. Gust became a fully internal development studio of Koei Tecmo in 2014.
Koei Tecmo is currently comprised of five main development studios:
- Gust
- Team Ninja
- Kou Shibusawa
- Omega Force
- Ruby Party
Work on Fire Emblem[]
Fire Emblem Warriors[]
The action game spin-off Fire Emblem Warriors was developed as a collaboration between Intelligent Systems and Koei Tecmo's internal studios Team Ninja and Omega Force. Both Koei Tecmo studios had previously collaborated with Nintendo on the similarly structured Hyrule Warriors. Fire Emblem Warriors is a spin-off of Omega Force's long-running Warriors, or Musou franchise.
Koei Tecmo published Fire Emblem Warriors in Japan, while Nintendo published the title in international markets.
Fire Emblem: Three Houses[]
Koei Tecmo's Kou Shibusawa studio, known for their work on long-running strategy game series such as Romance of the Three Kingdoms, worked on the gameplay and programming of Fire Emblem: Three Houses. Intelligent Systems focused on developing the game's story and characters, and supplied only a small fraction of the overall staff that developed the game. Planning for Kou Shibusawa's involvement in the game's development began while Fire Emblem Warriors was still in production.
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes[]
Like the original Fire Emblem Warriors, Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes was developed by Koei Tecmo's Omega Force studio. Unlike the original Fire Emblem Warriors, the title is not a crossover of multiple Fire Emblem titles, but is instead focused on a new story set in the world of Fire Emblem: Three Houses specifically.
Like the original Fire Emblem Warriors, Koei Tecmo published Three Hopes in Japan, while Nintendo published the title in international markets.
Trivia[]
- The name of the studio Kou Shibusawa began as the pen name of Koei co-founder Yoichi Erikawa. Erikawa, now the president of Koei Tecmo, still uses the pen name in game credits to this day.
- Prior to the development of Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE, Nintendo producer Kaori Ando proposed a crossover title between the Fire Emblem series and Pokémon. However, this idea was shelved when The Pokémon Company partnered with Koei Tecmo on the strategy RPG Pokémon Conquest, which in Japan was branded as a crossover between Pokémon and Koei Tecmo's Nobunaga's Ambition series.