Orange County is poorer another video game maker.
Square Soft Inc., a unit of Japan’s Square Co., has closed its Costa Mesa facility and moved into Square Co.’s North American headquarters in Culver City.
The company wanted to be closer to its parent’s other regional operations, Square Soft spokeswoman Kyoko Yamashita said.
“We’re planning for the future of this office, which could include closer work with Square studios and our other partner, Columbia Pictures,” Yamashita said.
Square Soft moved 60 employees to the new Culver City office, Yamashita said, but lost about 10 who live in Costa Mesa and South County and weren’t willing to make the commute.
The company’s new office is about the same size as its old Costa Mesa facility near South Coast Plaza, Yamashita said.
The move comes as Square Studios, the Honolulu-based movie studio of Square, released a feature film co-produced with Columbia Pictures based on the popular video game series “Final Fantasy.”
Those inside Square Soft expect the company to work more closely with the studios on future motion pictures, Yamashita said.
In 1989, Square, which makes primarily video games for consoles such as Sony Corp.’s PlayStation 2, formally expanded into the North American market by opening Square Soft.
Square wanted the new subsidiary to make versions of its games for the North American market and to convert console video games into personal computer games.
A decade later, Square teamed with Mountain View-based Electronic Arts Inc. to form Square Electronic Arts LLC. Square gave the new company exclusive rights to publish all games developed by Square in North America.
Square Soft is a majority shareholder in Square Electronic Arts and works with the unit to create new titles.
Square Soft’s move out of OC is another hit to OC’s dwindling games business. Virgin Interactive Entertainment, which had $250 million in sales in 1997, fell on hard times and was dismantled. Its last vestige is the 35-person Westwood Studios unit of Electronic Arts.
Game maker Interplay Entertainment Corp.,No. 6 on the Business Journal list of OC software makers,has struggled since its 1998 initial public offering, with revenue and employment both down 20% or more since then and a share price of about 1.60 last week, vs. an initial 6.
In 1999, Paris-based Titus Interactive acquired a majority stake in the company. This year, Interplay said it was looking at strategic alternatives, and this month said it had been in talks with prospective buyer, but negotiations had been “delayed.” n
