【VING】 Produced many bishoujo games! Decided to switch to a different business now, VING's retro games are here!

When looking back at video games from the 1980s to the 1990s, you may encounter nostalgic names that make you think, “Come to think of it, there was a maker like this too.” One of them is Ving, which was engaged in the development and sales of video game software in Japan. It is not a name you frequently see in today's game industry, but it was a company that once released game software into the world, and tracing its history brings into view the figure of a maker unique to those days. Differing from major game companies with long histories, there is fun in looking back at Ving precisely in being an existence that can be remembered by fans who know specific eras.

One of the indispensable works in knowing Ving is “Harukaze Sentai V-Force”. As a title symbolizing the era when Ving was developing its video game software development and sales business, some people might remember it along with its name. In an era when it was not an environment where game information spread instantly like today, discovering unknown titles through store packages, game magazines, etc. was a fun in itself. Digging deeper into makers active in such an era, interest arises not only in the works but also in the history of the development and sales side, wondering “Which company made it?”. Ving is precisely one of the companies you encounter when looking back at such past game culture.

What is interesting is that Ving's path does not end with games alone. The company subsequently withdrew from the video game business, and is currently involved in a field different from the past. You might end up thinking, “If they stopped making games, didn't the company itself disappear as well?”, but that is not the case. In continuing activities while transforming business contents, there is a career unique to this company. For people who know only its figure as a game maker, even just knowing its subsequent development will feel a bit surprising.

After moving away from the game business, under the shop name and company name “Youhouse”, it imports and sells radio-controlled helicopters, vacuum tube amplifiers, etc. Hearing from game software to radio-controlled helicopters, and then vacuum tube amplifiers, it seems to have moved to considerably different genres. However, in the point that all are products that can be deeply enjoyed as hobbies, a strange commonality can also be felt. Differing from video games enjoying the world inside the screen, radio-controlled helicopters have the fun of actually operating the machine, and vacuum tube amplifiers have the depth of savoring the sound itself. Even if the products handled change, in the sense of delivering products to people enjoying hobbies, it comes to look as if connected somewhere by a single line.

Currently, Ving is in charge of online sales relations and shipping operations at “Youhouse”. A company that once delivered products in the world of digital entertainment called video games is handling online sales and logistics through changes of the times. If you clip only the figure of the 1980s or 1990s, it becomes an explanation of “an old game company”, but tracking it up to after that changes the impression a bit. Withdrawing from the game market does not mean the end of the company itself, and there is also a path to survive by shifting its footing to another business. Looking at it as one example of that, Ving's history is quite interesting.

When remembering games played in the past, eyes inevitably tend to turn only toward work titles or characters. However, looking into the maker name written on that package, a story different from the game itself may be found. Ving is also a company that developed and sold game software in the 1980s and 90s, and after releasing “Harukaze Sentai V-Force” and others into the world, withdrew from the game field and is currently engaged in business in a different form. Not ending with “There was a game like this in the past”, but tracking up to “What happened to the company that released it after that?”. Enjoying game history from such a perspective, wouldn't the names of nostalgic makers feel even more flavorful than ever before?