T&E Soft

T&E Soft Incorporated (株式会社ティーアンドイーソフト, Kabushiki-Gaisha Tīandoīsofuto) was a Japanese-based video game developer founded in 1982.[3] Although they have made games with a wide variety of genres, they are primarily known in the U.S. for their golf and puzzle video games.[4]

T&E Soft
Native name
株式会社ティーアンドイーソフト
Kabushiki-Gaisha Tīandoīsofuto
TypeKabushiki gaisha
FoundedOctober 14, 1982[1]
("old company")
January 21, 2008[2]
("new company")
DefunctJanuary 2013
("new company")
FateMerged with Spike Chunsoft
HeadquartersNagoya, Japan
Websitewww.tes.co.jp (archived)
www.tandesoft.co.jp (archived)
dwonderland.co.jp

The original company exists today under the name of Daikokuya Global Holding Co., Ltd but is not currently engaged in game development.[5] A company named Deep Co., Ltd. acquired T&E Soft 's trademark rights on April 22, 2005, to continue game development which would go on until January 2013.

History

Founded in 1982, T&E Soft Co., Ltd was initially named after the founder's older brother Toshiro Yokoyama and his younger brother Eiji Yokoyama, but later changed the abbreviation to "Tri & Exciting" and eventually "Technology & Entertainment".

T&E Soft started activities by selling games for NEC's PC-6001 series. Beginning in 1983, it developed games for multiple models other than the PC-6001. In December 1983, T&E Soft published its own magazine to promote its products and by January 1985 launched its newsletter that would last until July 1990. In October 1990, Xtalsoft was merged with T&E Soft and became T&E SOFT Osaka Development Department.

The company became famous for its 8-bit personal computer games including the Hydlide series. It entered the home video game console in March 1986 with the in-house development of the Family Computer software Hydlide Special which was released by Toshiba EMI. Since the success of the Super Famicom software Harukanaru Augusta, released in April 1991, T&E Soft gradually moved away from personal computers to focus on its titles for video game consoles. At some point, Square founder Masafumi Miyamoto was the majority shareholder of T&E Soft.[6]

In May 2002, T&E Soft Corporation changed its name to D Wonderland Inc.[3]

In April 2005, Deep Co., Ltd. acquired the trademark rights of the T & E Soft name. In January 2006, Digital Golf Co., Ltd. absorbed Deep Co., Ltd. and established a game development branch in Nagoya under the brand name of T&E Soft.

The development department of Digital Golf in Nagoya was eventually split off into its own company T&E Soft Co. , Ltd on January 21, 2008. The following week on January 30, Games Arena Co., Ltd. (a subsidiary of Dwango Co., Ltd.) announced that it would acquire all issued shares of T&E Soft Co., Ltd.

Chunsoft and Spike, which Games Arena had both previously acquired on individual basis, merged in April 2012 to form Spike Chunsoft. The new T&E Soft Co., Ltd was absorbed and merged with Spike Chunsoft in January 2013. (Games Arena had itself dissolved in June 2012).

In January 2015, D Wonderland (the "old" T&E Soft) changed its company name to Daikokuya Global Holding Co., Ltd.[7][8]

On March 4, 2019, D4 Enterprise announced that it has acquired the intellectual property rights of the T&E Soft game content.[9]

Games published

3DO

Computers

Game Boy

Mega Drive/Genesis

MSX

PlayStation

Super NES/Super Famicom

Virtual Boy

Games developed

3DO
  • Pebble Beach Golf

Game Boy

Genesis/Mega Drive

MSX

Famicom/NES

Nintendo 64

Nintendo DS

PC

PlayStation

PlayStation 2

Saturn

Super NES/Super Famicom

Virtual Boy

References
  1. "T&E Soft Company Overview". Archived from the original on 1999-02-02.
  2. "T&E Soft Company Profile". Archived from the original on 2012-09-28.
  3. Kyodo News International, Inc. (2002-04-01). "Insider trading complaint filed over Disney software deal". TheFreeLibrary.com. Retrieved 2015-05-10.
  4. "T&E Soft Games". IGN. Archived from the original on 2012-11-05. Retrieved 2015-05-10.
  5. "会社情報 | 大黒屋グローバルホールディング - Daikokuya Global Holding 公式サイト".
  6. "Disney, T&E in online games tieup". 16 January 2001.
  7. "当社の商号変更に関するお知らせ" (PDF). www.daikokuya-ghd.jp (in Japanese). September 6, 2016. Archived from the original (PDF) on September 6, 2016.
  8. "D Wonderland Inc". December 27, 2015. Archived from the original on December 27, 2015.
  9. "株式会社D4エンタープライズ、地位継承済ゲームソフトウェア・コンテンツのご案内". D4エンタープライズ. 2019-03-04.
  10. Koyama, Yusuke (2023-06-02). History of the Japanese Video Game Industry. Springer Nature. p. 35. ISBN 978-981-99-1342-8.
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