This inspired SNK to start the Neo-Geo family of arcade and console hardware in 1990. The hardware would be the home of many classic franchises, like Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, The King of Fighters, Samurai Shodown and Metal Slug. However, revenue would slowly dry up throughout the 1990’s and SNK would fall onto hard times, with multiple key staff members, including Kawasaki, departing to start their own companies. The company would once again achieve modest success through the 2000’s and into the 2010’s, but nowhere near their peak. In 2016, Hong Kong based investment firm Leyou Technologies Holdings acquired a majority stake.
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On December 1, 2016, SNK Playmore Corporation officially changed its corporate name to SNK Corporation (removing the Playmore from the name), together with an updated Neo Geo sound for a new logo opening. According to a 4Gamer interview, this decision resulted from a vote by the company’s employees. According to an official announcement, this DreamHack Atlanta event sets a new record for being SNK Corporation’s largest competitive showcase to date. At the conclusion of SWC 2025, champions from each of the four titles will face off in a special exhibition to decide the SNK Fighting Game Champion.
In 2015, rumors were reported about the acquisition of the company by the Chinese Leyou Technologies. In August 6, 2015, these rumors became true as the joint venture Zheyuan (formed by Oriental Securities and Shunrong Sanqi/37Games) invested 63.5 million USD in Ledo Millenium (subisidiary of Leyou) to purchase 81.25% of SNK Playmore shares. The CEO of Dongfang Xinghui (subsidiary of Oriental Securities, owner of 80% of the acquired SNK Playmore stock), Zheng Jianhui, has expressed his desire to create “the Marvel Comics of videogames” with SNK’s vast IP’s. On March 20, 2023, SNK bade farewell to its legendary Esaka headquarters, marking the end of a remarkable 35-year era of games, dissolution and rebirth. The company’s most iconic series and platforms were nurtured in the heart of its previous headquarters.
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Organized by SNK Corporation and operated by ESL FACEIT Group (EFG), this event features top competitors duking it out for their share of the $4.1 million prize pool. In June 2019, the 12th entry in the Samurai Shodown59 series was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, followed by an arcade version in snk coin October and a Nintendo Switch version later in the year. SNK Playmore USA released its first game on Xbox Live, which is Fatal Fury Special. SNK Playmore also supported Nintendo’s Virtual Console service on the Wii in the US with Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, and World Heroes. On the PS2, The King of Fighters XI, and Neo Geo Battle Coliseum came out for the PS2 in 2007 (with US release dates of November 13 and December 17 respectively).
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- On October 30, of the same year, the company won the company’s intellectual property rights in a bid made during the bankruptcy of the former SNK.
- Additionally, a dedicated special website provides a virtual tour of the brand-new workrooms, allowing fans and enthusiasts to experience SNK’s future firsthand.
- In July 2003, with the permission of Eikichi Kawasaki, the founder of the former SNK company, the company changed its name to SNK Playmore Corporation.5 Today, the new SNK highly resembles the original company.
Under this new ownership, there has been a push to restore the brand name by releasing more games and making established franchises known to a new generation. In November, 2020, the Mohammed Bin Salman Foundation (MiSK) acquired a 33.3% stake in the company, which was upgraded to a 96.18% stake on April 7, 2022. In October 2002, Kawasaki sued Aruze for copyright infringement regarding SNK’s intellectual properties which were used without authorization from Playmore, to the tune of 6.2 billion yen in damages. In January 2004, a preliminary decision was handed down by the Osaka District Court favoring SNK Playmore and was awarded 5.64 billion yen. Within that period of fall and winter of 2003, SNK Playmore obtained an injunction against a group of four different companies, which resulted in hundreds of AES cartridges being seized.
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Japanese video game company SNK (formerly Shin Nihon Kikaku and SNK Playmore) began developing and publishing video games in 1978. SNK’s first video games were released on dedicated arcade boards throughout the 1980s. In the 1990s and early 2000s, most of their games were released on their proprietary hardware, including the Neo Geo and Neo Geo Pocket Color. As a part of their efforts to reestablish their presence in the gaming market, Playmore purchased Brezzasoft and renamed it SNK NeoGeo Corp, giving the company an internal game development team. A Japanese commercial games distributor, Sun Amusement, was also purchased in order to provide the company with an arcade distribution outlet in Japan. International offices were established in South Korea, Hong Kong, and reintroduced in the United States under the SNK NeoGeo name for commercial, and later, consumer gaming distribution.
- The CEO of Dongfang Xinghui (subsidiary of Oriental Securities, owner of 80% of the acquired SNK Playmore stock), Zheng Jianhui, has expressed his desire to create “the Marvel Comics of videogames” with SNK’s vast IP’s.
- According to an official announcement, this DreamHack Atlanta event sets a new record for being SNK Corporation’s largest competitive showcase to date.
- Anticipating the end of the company, founder Kawasaki established Playmore Corporation, which acquired all of the intellectual property of the SNK Corporation.
- At the same time, the Neo Geo Pocket, while initially selling well, began to fall behind in the market after the release of the Game Boy Color, and Neo Geo World Tokyo Bayside quickly lost attendance after the re-opening of Yokohama Cosmo World a few months later, with the park considered to be a massive failure.
On October 30, of the same year, the company won the company’s intellectual property rights in a bid made during the bankruptcy of the former SNK. During the 2010s, with SNK’s revival, Chinese companies began showing interest in SNK Playmore and their IP’s. Examples of this are the release of KOF 98 Ultimate Match HERO in IGS’s PGM 2 board and the guest appearance of Terry Bogard and Benimaru Nikaido in Tencent’s Xuan Dou Zhi Wang.
SNK has developed a great number of mobile games since 2009.44 It has licensed its characters for Chinese and other Asian games, mostly mobile. In 2007, SNK Playmore USA released its first game on the Xbox Live Arcade, titled Fatal Fury Special.43 SNK Playmore also began supporting Nintendo’s Virtual Console service on the Wii in the US with Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, and World Heroes. SNK Playmore also released its first adult-themed game franchise, Doki Doki Majo Shinpan! In 2009, the company released The King of Fighters XII, which was not well-received by the public and critics alike due to polemic changes in the game’s graphics and structure. In 2010, SNK Playmore released a sequel, The King of Fighters XIII, which was considered a much better game than its immediate predecessor.
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SNK announced this morning that the SNK World Championship 2025 will take place at DreamHack Atlanta, bringing four more tournaments to the event. Players can now register to compete at the event, happening from October 31 until November 2 in Atlanta, Georgia, as the event continues to grow with more esports events under its belt. We have the full rundown from SNK of everything you need to know about next month’s competitions. It was released in Japan in late 1998 and featured a monochrome (one-color) display. Because its sales were fewer than the expected number, it was discontinued in 1999 in favor of the Neo Geo Pocket Color, which was later released in North America and Europe.
SNK Corporation (1986–1999; first incarnation)
Several more famous franchise titles, originally created for the MVS and AES systems, have been ported to other consoles such as the Genesis, Saturn and Dreamcast; SNES; PlayStation and PlayStation 2; Xbox; and Wii. The company was nicknamed “Shin Nihon Kikaku” in katakana at first; however, since 1981, it has been changed to “SNK” by taking the initials from the Roman alphabet (Shin Nihon Kikaku). It established itself in Sunnyvale, California, to deliver its own brand of coin-operated games to arcades in North America. In 2001, due to financial troubles, the original SNK Corporation was forced to close. Anticipating the end of the company, founder Kawasaki established Playmore Corporation, which acquired all of the intellectual property of the SNK Corporation.
In the fall and winter of 2003, SNK Playmore obtained an injunction against a group of four different companies, causing hundreds of AES cartridges to be seized. The two were allowed to sell AES cartridges, under the conditions that the cartridges would not be modified again and that any legitimate materials would be returned to SNK Playmore. In 1999, SNK opened the Neo Geo World Tokyo Bayside amusement park as part of the Palette Town entertainment complex in Odaiba, Tokyo equipped with attractions such as Ferris wheels and roller coasters. A large-scale tie-in was established with the Fujisankei Communications Group, owners of the nearby television station Fuji TV, and was frequently promoted in various media.
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