Entertainment Software Publishing
was a Japanese video game publisher headquartered in Shibuya, Tokyo. It was founded in 1997 as the publishing arm of the Game Developers Network. GD-NET, which included companies such as Treasure and Game Arts, was established due to concerns over smaller developers not having the same financial backing like larger game companies did, as production of console games was beginning to rise. ESP was best known for publishing shoot 'em ups and role-playing games. While primarily a publisher, ESP also developed a handful of games internally.
ESP primarily published games for the Sega Saturn and Dreamcast. When both systems met their demise, the company began struggling financially as it started shifting operations towards consoles such as the PlayStation 2, PlayStation Portable, and Nintendo DS. ESP was purchased by Game Arts in 2001 and became its publishing division. In 2004, ESP was sold to D3 Publisher, which had noticed ESP's track record and lineup of well-received titles. ESP was merged into the video game operations of D3 in 2010.
Many games that were published by ESP, including Grandia, Radiant Silvergun, and the Bangai-O series, have received high praise from critics. Several have sold well and have been ranked among the best in their genres. In the past, ESP helped co-publish several Japanese massively multiplayer online video games, and also collaborated with other game companies on various projects.
History
In the late 1990s in Japan, several Japanese video game developers, including Treasure, Quintet, Sting Entertainment, and Game Arts, joined forces and established Game Developers Network. The purpose of GD-NET was to establish mutual assistance with one another. As the video game market in Japan began growing in size, the costs for developers to produce games for consoles was also rising. Members of GD-NET did not have the same financial backing like larger companies did, and believed that creating healthy relationships between them would increase their chances of surviving the industry landscape of the time. Companies under the network proposed a plan that would allow them to focus their resources on game development instead of production and promotion of their titles.GD-NET established Entertainment Software Publishing in November 1997. Youichi Miyaji, the president and CEO of Game Arts, was appointed president of the company. ESP was funded by many game studios, including Japan Art Media, CSK Research Institute, and Onion Soft, as well as most of the companies that were part of GD-NET. Additional funding was provided by CSK Holdings, the parent company of Sega. Developers such as Treasure and Game Arts would create and produce games, while ESP would handle marketing, sales, and promotion of these games. GD-NET developers believed that ESP would help make production of games easier and much more efficient than before by not having to rely on companies like Sega to publish them.
One of ESP's first hits was Grandia for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn. Developed by Game Arts, Grandia was released in 1997 to critical acclaim, being listed as one of the greatest role-playing video games of all time. It became the first third-party Sega Saturn game to sell over 500,000 copies, and become a best-seller for the console. Treasure's Saturn conversion of the arcade game Radiant Silvergun was also released to acclaim for its gameplay and mechanics, and is cited among the best and most influential shoot'em up games created. Slayers Royal and its follow-up Slayers Royal 2, both based on the Slayers light novel and anime series, were also commercially successful.
In 1998, Sega discontinued production of the Sega Saturn in Europe and North America amidst poor sales and a catastrophic marketing campaign. While the Saturn was still being sold in Japan, Sega largely abandoned the system in favor of the Dreamcast, which it released the same year. As such, ESP began to shift its publishing operations from Saturn to Dreamcast and other consoles like the Nintendo 64. It published Bangai-O for the latter console in 1999, which while critically successful was produced in limited quantities out of concern over its niche appeal. ESP commonly participated in the Tokyo Game Show and other major video game events in the country, where they regularly presented their more popular titles such as Silhouette Mirage. By this time, many developers within GD-NET had either departed or gone out of business, which caused ESP to diminish and lose financial backing. ESP also began publishing games for the PlayStation 2, which had become the best-selling video game console in Japan and outsold the Dreamcast by a wide margin.
After Sega ended production of the Dreamcast in 2001 and CSK sold its shares of the company to Sammy Corporation, Game Arts acquired ESP, and made the latter its publishing division. In 2004, ESP was purchased by D3 Publisher, a Japanese video game studio best known for its Simple series of budget games. D3 purchased 100% of ESP's stock for a total of 120 million yen. ESP's track record and lineup of commercially successful games was the reason for the acquisition, with ESP becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of D3. In addition to publishing other developer's titles for systems like the PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS, ESP also began developing its own games such as Hajime no Ippo Portable Victorious Spirits for the PlayStation Portable. ESP co-published several Japanese massively multiplayer online games as well. In 2008 the company partnered with Treasure, the only remaining GD-NET company to still have working relations with them, to form a publishing project known as "Treasure × ESP". The project lead to ESP publishing Bangai-O Spirits for the DS, a critically successful sequel to Bangai-O.
On 1 April 2010, ESP announced through its official website that the company had been shut down and merged with the video game operations of D3 Publisher. A year earlier, D3 became a subsidiary of Namco Bandai Games, who purchased 95% of its stock and became a member of Bandai Namco Holdings, also known as the Bandai Namco Group. All of ESP's properties and assets are now owned by both D3 and Bandai Namco.