Granzella Inc. is 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 ...

based in Ishikawa,

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 ...

. The company is formed from former

Irem is a Japanese video game console developer and publisher, and formerly a developer and manufacturer of arcade games as well. The company has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The full name of the company that uses the brand is Irem Softwar ...

staff and engaged in planning, production and sales of console games. The company is known for developing the latest entry in the ''

Disaster Report ''Disaster Report'', known in Japan as and in the PAL region as ''SOS: The Final Escape'', is a PlayStation 2 survival action-adventure video game created by Irem. It was released in Japan in 2002 by Irem, and in North America and Europe in 2003, ...

'' and ''

R-Type is a horizontally scrolling shooter arcade video game developed and released by Irem in 1987 and the first game in the ''R-Type'' series. The player controls a star ship, the R-9 "Arrowhead", in its efforts to destroy the Bydo, a powerful a ...

'' series. Granzella was established in April 2011 by former staff of Irem Software Engineering Inc. (hereafter referred as Irem) after the cancellation of multiple video game projects as a result of the

2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami The occurred at 14:46 JST (05:46 UTC) on 11 March. The magnitude 9.0–9.1 (M) undersea megathrust earthquake had an epicenter in the Pacific Ocean, east of the Oshika Peninsula of the Tōhoku region, and lasted approximately six minutes ...

. The name of the company is derived from "Granzella Revolution Army," which appeared in '' R-Type Tactics II: Operation Bitter Chocolate'', a game from the ''

'' series developed by the staff at Irem. After the company's establishment, Granzella mainly focused on developing content for

PlayStation Home PlayStation Home was a virtual 3D social networking, social gaming platform developed by Sony Computer Entertainment's London Studio for the PlayStation 3 (PS3) on the PlayStation Network (PSN). It was accessible from the PS3's XrossMediaBar (XM ...

. On June 30, 2014, the company was split into two business divisions: "Granzella Inc." which focused on visuals and "Granzella Overseas Entertainment Inc." which focused on developing games for Western audiences and smartphones. In December 2014, Granzella acquired IP and distribution rights of the ''

'' series in all areas of the world, including future titles, from Irem. The company then announced the restart of development work for '' Disaster Report 4 Plus: Summer Memories'', which was previously in limbo after Irem halted development of the game. Granzella also began distribution of previous Disaster Report titles on download services and arcades. In September 2015, the company announced a joint project with

Bandai Namco Entertainment is a Japanese multinational video game video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Minato-ku, Tokyo. Its international branches, Bandai Namco Entertainment America and Bandai Namco Entertainment Europe, are respectively headquartered in ...

, which eventually became ''

City Shrouded in Shadow is a video game for the PlayStation 4 developed by Granzella, who confirmed that it is the spiritual successor to their ''Disaster Report'' series of games, and several characters from that series also make cameo appearances in the game. The ...

''. The game was described as a spiritual successor to the ''Disaster Report'' series. In November of the same year, the company announced the establishment of Gz Studios Inc., a video game development studio and Granzella Music, a music sub-label.

Games developed by Granzella

Notes

References

{{reflist Video game companies of Japan Japanese companies established in 2011 Video game companies established in 2011 Companies based in Ishikawa Prefecture Video game development companies