河津秋敏
was a shell corporation founded in June 1999 by Square. It was re-purposed in 2002 to create video games for the Nintendo GameCube, even though Square had an exclusive deal with Sony Computer Entertainment to create games only for PlayStation consoles at the time. To evade that deal, Square held only 49% of the shares while Akitoshi Kawazu, head of Square's Product Development Division-2, held 51%. The formation of a new company also made it possible to take advantage of Nintendo's "Q fund" for new game developers who develop for GameCube. Game Designers Studio only released a single game, "Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles". Square Enix's Product Development Division-2 de facto developed "Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles" with publishing by Nintendo. Square merged with Enix in 2003 and formed Square Enix while "Crystal Chronicles" was in development. Square Enix later acquired 100% of Game Designers Studio and renamed it to SQEX Corporation. After the takeover of Taito Corporation in 2005, Square Enix merged it with SQEX in March 2006. The merged subsidiary took on the Taito Corporation name, but SQEX Corporation was the surviving company. On February 1, 2010, it was renamed "Taito Soft Corporation" and dissolved on March 11, 2010, effectively ending the company that started as The Game Designers Studio.