was an

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

video game developer based in

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and List of cities in Japan, largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, ...

, Japan. The company, which employed just under 300 individuals before its closure, was founded on July 1, 2003 by

Yoshiki Okamoto , sometimes credited as Kihaji Okamoto, is a Japanese video game designer. He is credited with producing popular titles for Konami, including '' Gyruss'' and '' Time Pilot'', and for Capcom, including ''1942'', ''Gun.Smoke'', ''Final Fight'' and ...

after he departed from Japanese game developer and publisher Capcom. He began working at rival game developer and publisher

Konami , is a Japanese multinational video game and entertainment company headquartered in Chūō, Tokyo, it also produces and distributes trading cards, anime, tokusatsu, pachinko machines, slot machines, and arcade cabinets. Konami has casino ...

in the 1980s, and was responsible for such arcade games as ''

Gyruss is an arcade shoot 'em up game designed by Yoshiki Okamoto and released by Konami in 1983. ''Gyruss'' was initially licensed to Centuri in the United States for dedicated machines, before Konami released their own self-distributed conversion ki ...

'' and ''

Time Pilot is a multidirectional shooter arcade game designed by Yoshiki Okamoto and released by Konami in 1982. It was distributed in the United States by Centuri, and by Atari Ireland in Europe and the Middle East. While engaging in aerial combat, the ...

''. He then moved to Capcom, where he worked on many franchises, such as ''1942'', ''

Resident Evil ''Resident Evil'', known in Japan as is a Japanese horror game series and media franchise created by Capcom. It consists of survival horror, third-person shooter and first-person shooter games, with players typically surviving in environments ...

'' and especially '' Street Fighter II''. While Game Republic was a completely independent developer able to produce titles for any publisher and/or platform they desire, during the company's early years it had enjoyed a close relationship with

Sony , commonly stylized as SONY, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan. As a major technology company, it operates as one of the world's largest manufacturers of consumer and professiona ...

, with many of their early titles funded by and produced in conjunction with the publisher. In June 2011 reports surfaced of Game Republic shutting down its website and vacating its offices. Many of the former Game Republic developers have been hired by Tango Gameworks.

Games

References

External links

* {{Game Republic Defunct video game companies of Japan Video game development companies Software companies based in Tokyo Japanese companies established in 2003 Japanese companies disestablished in 2011 Video game companies established in 2003 Video game companies disestablished in 2011 Privately held companies of Japan