was a Japanese

video game developer A video game developer is a broad term for a software developer specializing in video game development – the process and related disciplines of creating video games. A game developer can range from one person who undertakes all tasks to a large ...

. The company name was apparently an acronym for Computer Amusement Visualizer, although the company web site also claims it refers to caviar. The company was founded on March 1, 2000, and had its headquarters in Tokyo, Japan. Its shareholders included Amuse Capital, Tokuma Shoten, Tohokushinsha Film Corporation, Nippon Television Network Corporation, Tokyo FM Broadcasting, Mitsubishi Corporation, and Hayao Nakayama. Cavia is best known for the '' Drakengard'' series, the first title in the '' Nier'' series and two '' Resident Evil'' rail shooters: '' The Umbrella Chronicles'' and ''

The Darkside Chronicles ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

''. In October 2005, the company's name was sold to AQ Interactive. AQ Interactive became a holding company responsible for the management of subsidiary companies as well as sales and promotion of game software. The old company's game planning & development business was transferred to a newly established Cavia Inc. In July 2010, the company was officially disbanded and absorbed into AQ Interactive. Cavia would henceforth stop developing games, with ''Nier'' which it released in May 2010 being the last game developed by Cavia. Despite the closure, some members of the development staff from ''Nier'', including director Yoko Taro, went on to produce a sequel to the ''Drakengard'' series, ''

Drakengard 3 ''Drakengard 3'', known in Japan as is an action role-playing video game developed by Access Games and published by Square Enix exclusively for PlayStation 3. It is the third and final main game in the ''Drakengard'' series and a prequel to th ...

'', under

Access Games is a Japanese company specializing in the planning, development and distribution of video games and the research, development and distribution of software, data and video media. The company was originally founded in 1996 as a computer graphics ...

and published by

Square Enix is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate, best known for its ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', ''Star Ocean'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' role-playing video game ...

. Former members of the development teams at Cavia, Inc. have either gone freelance, or joined other development teams within

Marvelous AQL is a Japanese video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher, and anime producer. The company was formed in October 2011 by the merger of the original Marvelous Entertainment, AQ Interactive, and Marvelous Entertainment#Marvelous Livew ...

(as a part of their merger),

Comcept Level-5 Comcept, formerly known as Comcept Inc., is a Japanese video game developer based in Osaka, founded on December 1, 2010 by Keiji Inafune, formerly of Capcom. Their projects include '' Soul Sacrifice'', ''Mighty No. 9'', ''ReCore'' and ' ...

Tango Gameworks Tango Gameworks is a Japanese video game developer based in Tokyo. Founded in March 2010 by Shinji Mikami, previously of Capcom, the company was acquired by ZeniMax Media in October that year after suffering financial issues. Tango developed ...

FromSoftware FromSoftware, Inc. is a Japanese video game development and publishing company based in Tokyo. Founded by Naotoshi Zin in November 1986, the company developed business software before releasing their first video game, ''King's Field (video game) ...

or rejoined the teams at Namco where members of Cavia, Inc. were from originally.

Games

References

{{Reflist

External links

Official website
via Internet Archive Software companies based in Tokyo Japanese companies established in 2000 Video game companies established in 2000 Video game companies disestablished in 2010 Defunct video game companies of Japan Video game development companies Japanese companies disestablished in 2010 AQ Interactive