Fujisankei Communications International, Inc. (FCI) is the

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

arm of the

Fujisankei Communications Group , abbreviated FCG, is a keiretsu in Japan. In 1991, it was the fourth-largest media company in the world and the largest one in Japan. In the same year, the company's yearly revenue was $5 billion. Many of its affiliates are owned by Fuji Med ...

, a

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

ese media conglomerate of

television Television, sometimes shortened to TV, is a telecommunication medium for transmitting moving images and sound. The term can refer to a television set, or the medium of television transmission. Television is a mass medium for advertisin ...

and

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

channels,

magazine A magazine is a periodical publication, generally published on a regular schedule (often weekly or monthly), containing a variety of content. They are generally financed by advertising, purchase price, prepaid subscriptions, or by a combinatio ...

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

, record and

video game Video games, also known as computer games, are electronic games that involves interaction with a user interface or input device such as a joystick, controller, keyboard, or motion sensing device to generate visual feedback. This fee ...

companies. The Fujisankei Communications Group regroups more than 90 companies, like

Fuji TV JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network Sys ...

in Japan, among others. Founded in 1986 in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and owned by

Fuji Media Holdings JOCX-DTV (channel 8), branded as and colloquially known as CX, is a Japanese television station based in Odaiba, Minato, Tokyo, Japan. Owned and operated by the it is the key station of the Fuji News Network (FNN) and the Fuji Network Sys ...

, FCI makes productions from the Fujisankei Communications Group available to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

and the rest of the

western world The Western world, also known as the West, primarily refers to the various nations and state (polity), states in the regions of Europe, North America, and Oceania.

. FCI was involved with videogame publishing as well, being one of the early third-party licensees for

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in America ...

(NES) starting in 1987. Originally, FCI merely published in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

translations of

s that were released in Japan mainly by

Pony Canyon , also known by the shorthand form , is a Japanese mass media publishing company founded on October 1, 1966. The company publishes mainly physical home media on compact discs, including music, films and TV shows and video games. It is affiliate ...

, another company from the Fujisankei Communications Group. FCI was well-known at this time for the many RPG and

Adventure games An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based me ...

they released for the NES as conversions from PC games, such as the ''

Advanced Dungeons & Dragons Several different editions of the ''Dungeons & Dragons'' (''D&D'') fantasy role-playing game have been produced since 1974. The current publisher of ''D&D'', Wizards of the Coast, produces new materials only for the most current edition of the ga ...

'' and ''Ultima'' series. Later, FCI began contracting outside development houses to create original games; examples include ''

WCW Super Brawl Wrestling ''WCW SuperBrawl Wrestling'' is a professional wrestling video game published by Fujisankei Communications International, FCI, Inc. for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994 in video gaming, 1994. The third World Championship Wrestling ( ...

'' and '' WCW: The Main Event'', both developed by

Beam Software Krome Studios Melbourne, originally Melbourne House, was an Australian video game developer, video game development studio founded in 1980 by Alfred Milgrom and Naomi Milgrom, Naomi Besen and based in Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia. Initially ...

of Australia; '' Might & Magic III'', developed by

Iguana Entertainment Acclaim Studios Austin (formerly Iguana Entertainment) was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. The company was founded in 1991 by Jeff Spangenberg, previously lead designer for Punk Development, and originally located in Sa ...

; and ''

Metal Morph ''Metal Morph'' is a video game developed by Origin Systems and published by FCI, Inc. for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Gameplay The gameplay alternates between run and gun and scrolling shooter (playing as a space ship). Both t ...

'' and the ''Runes of Virtue'' titles in the ''Ultima'' series, both developed by

Origin Systems Origin Systems, Inc. was an American video game developer based in Austin, Texas. It was founded on March 3, 1983, by Richard Garriott and his brother Robert Garriott, Robert. Origin is best known for their groundbreaking work in multiple genres ...

. FCI had a long partnership with Origin, starting when Pony Canyon was hired to translate the Ultima PC games for Japan, strengthening through the conversion of ''

Ultima III ''Ultima III: Exodus'' is the third game in the series of '' Ultima'' role-playing video games. Exodus is also the name of the game's principal antagonist. It is the final installment in the "Age of Darkness" trilogy. Released in 1983, it was the ...

'', '' IV'' and '' V'' for the NES, followed by ''

Ultima VI ''Ultima VI: The False Prophet'', released by Origin Systems in 1990, is the sixth part in the role-playing video game series of '' Ultima''. It is the third and final game in the "Age of Enlightenment" trilogy. ''Ultima VI'' sees the player retu ...

'' and ''

VII VII or vii may refer to: the Roman numeral 7 Art and entertainment * The Vii, a video game console * vii, leading-tone triad, see diminished triad * ''VII'' (Blitzen Trapper album) * ''VII'' (Just-Ice album) * ''VII'' (Teyana Taylor album) * ...

'' for the

Super NES The Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), commonly shortened to Super NES or Super Nintendo, is a 16-bit home video game console developed by Nintendo that was released in 1990 in Japan and South Korea, 1991 in North America, 1992 in E ...

, and continuing through the end of FCI's videogame department; a conversion of Origin's PC game '' Wing Commander II'' to the Super NES was in development for release by FCI when they closed their video games division. In the mid-1990s, FCI abandoned video game distribution to concentrate on television operations. FCI has contracts with television stations in New York City,

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only stat ...

and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

to air programming segments. Since 1999, Fuji TV, through FCI, has forbidden foreign TV stations from

subtitling Subtitles and captions are lines of dialogue or other text displayed at the bottom of the screen in films, television programs, video games or other visual media. They can be transcriptions of the screenplay, translations of it, or informati ...

its

drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

s, a practice that is criticized and has alienated some fans of the genre. The company continues to be based in

Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...

, but has since moved from its original offices to its current location around 1988–1989. FCI also has secondary offices in the

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

Published games

NES

* '' Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: DragonStrike'' * '' Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Heroes of the Lance'' * '' Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Pool of Radiance'' * '' Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Hillsfar'' * '' Bard's Tale, The'' * '' Breaktime'' * ''

Dr. Chaos ''Dr. Chaos'', officially known as in Japan, is an action-adventure game originally released in Japan for the Family Computer Disk System in 1987 in video gaming, 1987 by Pony Canyon, Pony Inc. An English localization was produced for the Ninte ...

'' * ''

Hydlide is an action role-playing game developed and published by T&E Soft. It was originally released for the NEC PC-6001 and PC-8801 computers in 1984, in Japan only; ports for the MSX, MSX2, FM-7 and NEC PC-9801 were released the following year ...

'' * ''

Lunar Pool ''Lunar Pool'' (known as in Japan) is a sports video game. It was developed by Compile for the Nintendo Entertainment System and MSX. The game combines pool (pocket billiards) with aspects of miniature golf. The object is to knock each ball into ...

'' * ''

MagMax is an arcade game which was developed by Nihon Bussan and released in 1985 under its brand Nichibutsu. A horizontal scrolling shooter, players control the title hover ship in an attempt to completely construct the ship into a giant robot and to ...

'' * '' Phantom Fighter'' * '' Seicross'' * '' Ultima III: Exodus'' * '' Ultima IV: Quest of the Avatar'' * '' Ultima V: Warriors of Destiny'' * ''

WCW Wrestling ''WCW Wrestling'' (a.k.a. ''World Championship Wrestling'') is a Nintendo Entertainment System professional wrestling video game that was originally released in Japan in 1989 under the name ''Super Star Pro Wrestling'', with a different lineup o ...

'' * ''

Zanac is a shoot 'em up video game developed by Compile and published in Japan by Pony Canyon and in North America by FCI. It was released for the MSX computer, the Family Computer Disk System, the Nintendo Entertainment System, and for the Vir ...

Super NES

* ''

'' * '' Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra'' * '' SimEarth: The Living Planet'' * '' Ultima VI: The False Prophet'' * '' Ultima VII: The Black Gate'' * ''

WCW SuperBrawl Wrestling ''WCW SuperBrawl Wrestling'' is a professional wrestling video game published by FCI, Inc. for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System in 1994. The third World Championship Wrestling (WCW) video game, it is named after the pay-per-view '' Supe ...

'' * '' Ultima: Runes of Virtue 2'' * '' Worlds of Ultima: The Savage Empire''

Game Boy

* '' Boxxle'' * '' Boxxle 2'' * ''

Bubble Ghost ''Bubble Ghost'' is an action video game originally created by Christophe Andréani for the Atari ST and published by ERE Informatique in 1987. The player controls a ghost who guides a floating bubble by blowing on it. Gameplay The objective i ...

'' * '' Out of Gas'' * ''

Panel Action Bingo ''Panel Action Bingo'' is a Game Boy Action game, action/Adventure game, adventure video game developed by Japanese studio Locus where the player controls a bird. It was released in November 1993 to an exclusively North American market. Summary T ...

'' * ''

Tasmania Story ) , nickname = , image_map = Tasmania in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Tasmania in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdi ...

'' * '' Ultima: Runes of Virtue'' * ''Ultima: Runes of Virtue 2'' * '' WCW: The Main Event''

Sega CD

* '' Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Eye of the Beholder''

Unpublished games

* '' Advanced Dungeons & Dragons: Curse of the Azure Bonds'' * ''

'' (

Genesis Genesis may refer to: Bible * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...

) * '' Might and Magic III: Isles of Terra'' (Genesis) * '' Wing Commander II'' (Super NES) Curse of the Azure Bonds was abandoned due to difficulties during development. The remaining games were in development.

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies based in New York City American companies established in 1986 Home video companies of the United States Mass media companies of the United States Mass media companies of Japan Video game companies of the United States 1986 establishments in New York City Fujisankei Communications Group ja:フジサンケイ・コミュニケーションズ・インターナショナル