【VISCO CORPORATION】 Developing an arcade business in parallel at the same time! Here are Family Computer and PlayStation software released by VISCO CORPORATION, which is currently inactive!

Looking back at the history of the gaming industry, eyes tend to turn only to major manufacturers that everyone knows, but when you also pay attention to companies that have supported the entire industry behind the scenes, there are new discoveries. One of those representative existences is Visco Corporation. Moving forward with solid technology and flexible ideas as weapons rather than flashy publicity, the company has become an unforgettable existence for many arcade game fans. The more you know, the more moments there are where you are surprised, thinking “Was it a company fulfilling such a role?”, feeling that it is a company that cannot be overlooked when talking about video game history.

Visco has its headquarters in Nakagyo Ward, Kyoto City, and has its roots in Video System Kyoto, founded in 1982. After that, it was incorporated in 1983 and made a full-scale start as the current Visco. Developing business from Kyoto, a land where gaming culture is rooted, and establishing sales bases in Tokyo as well, it has a history of expanding its scope of activities while adapting to the times. Its experience of being involved in the gaming industry over many years holds a weight that cannot be fully described by a mere corporate timeline, and that accumulation is the reason it continues to be handed down by many game fans even today.

What is particularly impressive as a feature of Visco is that rather than devoting energy solely to its own works, it sent works of manufacturers who faced challenges in sales capabilities out into the world as a publisher. Even if there are excellent games, if a sales system is not prepared, they will not reach many people. By playing that bridging role, it created opportunities for numerous works to be sent to the market. Learning that behind gorgeous titles there was the support of such a company makes one realize anew that the gaming industry is established through the cooperation of many companies.

Visco demonstrated its presence not only in sales, but also on the technical side. In the SSV system board born through joint development with Seta and Sammy, it played a central role in a cooperative system leveraging the strengths held by each company. The initiative of advancing development while linking the respective features of companies with technical strength and companies with financial strength was extremely ambitious even for that time. The stance of shaping through cooperation challenges that are difficult to achieve with just a single company is an idea that leads into current game development, feeling as though it was ahead of its time.

The fact that the path was not always smooth sailing is also indispensable when talking about the company known as Visco. Facing events that greatly shook management, such as system board inventory issues and business failures of partner companies, it faced a severe phase of applying for composition with the Kyoto District Court in 1999. Still, from its stance of continuing business and maintaining initiatives toward game development, the tenacity of a company that does not easily halt its steps is conveyed. The gaming industry is a world where change is always fierce, but within that, the history of continuing challenges holds great value.

Since announcing “Crown Magic Cherry Rush” in 2005, announcements of new games have ceased. However, just because there are no new titles does not mean Visco's existential value fades. The achievements built up so far and the impact given to the arcade game industry remain unfaded even now, continuing to stay in the memories of many game fans. For people who played at arcades of those days, it is a company evoking nostalgia, and for younger generations, it is also an existence that serves as an opportunity to learn about the history of the gaming industry.

Visco is not a company evaluated solely by flashy buzzworthiness. It possesses a history of supporting many manufacturers on the sales side, actively engaging in technical challenges in joint developments, and continuing business even within severe management environments. Turning your eyes not only to works attracting attention on the center stage, but also to companies that exerted effort to send those works out into the world, the depth of the gaming industry comes into view more clearly. Visco is truly an important existence that quietly continued supporting that history, and can it not be called one of the game companies you definitely want to know about when talking about gaming culture?