Endio Co, Ltd.

Endio's current logo, in use since 2013.

Endio's headquarters in Tokyo.

Jimusho Softworks

Denizen Mobile

Metanoia Software

## Endio

Endio Co., Ltd. was a Japanese multinational consumer electronics and game company headquartered in Tokyo. It was one of the world's largest video game companies, creating some of the top-selling video game franchises, such as *Endogs,* and *Rrangai.*

Founded on 17 August 1893 by Ichikawa Endo, it originally produced Japanese board games. But, by 1912, it had become a toy company, and in 1971, went into the technology market. It was a small company for a while until 2012 when it started to gain recognition. In 2019 it held a market value of over $900 billion.

The company merged with its competitor Mukō in 2019 to form Mukō Endio.

## History

#### **1893 - 1923: As a card/boardgame company**

Endio was founded as a playing card company by Ichikawa Endo on 17 August 1893. Based in Tokyo, the business produced Kurasshukado cards. The cards became popular, and Endo hired assistants to mass-produce cards and to satisfy popular demand. In 1920, the company adopted the name Endio Toranpu Co, Ltd. Endio continues to manufacture playing cards in Japan and organizes bi-annual tournaments for Kurasshukado. The name "Endio" has many different theories of derivations. The most popular one is that it was a misprinting of Ichikawa Endo's last name, and it stuck within the company. Some conspiracy theorists think it comes from the Japanese word meaning, "to apostatize," but it's been disproved on multiple accounts.

#### **1923 - 1942: Dabbling in Manga**

In 1903, Endio hit a tough spot. Hitarashi Izu, the COO of Endio at the time, brainstormed ways to make a profit, as Kurasshukado cards had stopped being so financially viable. He then decided that Endio would go into the Manga industry, and see where that would take them. Though Endo did not want to stray away from cards, stating that manga isn't within the view of the company, he was soon to die in 1905 of a heart attack, leaving Izu as CEO. They started producing comics in 1907. In 1912 they produced the first copy of *Nihon no bōken.* Nihon no bōken had gotten thousands of sales within only one year, so, they focused on more copies of it. It was like this until 1942, around when WWII started, when the demand dropped.

#### **1942 - 1972: As a toy company**

After Endio's manga failure, Izu decided to go into toys producing. They began to manufacture and market wooden animals, and cars. These spiked in popularity around 1950, and Endio started to make a good profit. In 1963, they made their first electronic toy, it being a Qiyun stealing cat piggy bank. The demand for this was so high that they needed to hire many more assistants. This is when the corporate structure started to shape.

#### **1972 - 1978: Interests in electronics**

In 1972, Izu died, leaving the company to his son, Kudo Izu. Kudo Izu, being 23 years old, took interest in electronics. Endio's first venture into the video gaming was inventing the Gamebox Handheld Console, and securing rights for it. Endio started to produce its own games for it, and it was a major hit. Though a simple product with around 5 games, there was a massive demand for this, and Endio opened its first factory in Kyoto, Japan.

In 1978, 3 years after the first PC was developed in the U.S., Endio manufactured the Endio Desktop. It was a fairly simple PC that could only do tasks such as type and play a few games. They were pretty expensive, yet the demand was still high.

#### **1979 - 1983: EndioCube success**

In 1979, Wakata Udo conceived the idea of a video game being projected on the Television, which gave birth to the first EndioCube (colloquialized as "EndQ), designed by Udo. It was launched in 1981, with ports of popular arcade games such as Pong, and Endio games. The first game to be on it was known as *Ovoid*, a game similar to volleyball and pong where you had to hit a bouncing ball over a wall to an AI, and the AI had to hit it back. Whoever didn't hit it lost.

#### **1983 - 1989: EES, Endio DY and Endogs**

In 1983, Endio released the Endio DY, a handheld console designed by Udo and his development team. The first game on the DY was a pet simulation game called Endogs, a best-seller of the time. In 1988, Udo also released the Endio Entertainment System (EES). Endio also released the game *Detris* onthe Gamebox, and it was an instant success.

#### **1989 - 2000: EndioCube 2**

In 1989, due to the popularity of the EndioCube 1, the EndioCube 2 was released. The hype for it was so large that there were mile-long lines at every technology store with it in stock. The first one sold had come with the signatures of Kudo Izu, Wakata Udo, and the development team.

#### **2001 - 2003: EndioCube 3 and early Optio**

After 12 years, people were getting restless for the EndioCube 3, spamming the company with emails, and making internet memes about it. In 2001, the EndioCube 3 was released, and most stores' stock was instantly depleted. The EndioCube 3 was a massive success.

In 2003, early Optio was released. It was designed by one of the Endio web developers, Isayama Kumi, while bored in her office. She then pitched it to Udo, and it was made into a real social media platform.

#### **2003 - 2008: Optio rivalry, Jimusho Softworks, and Endio Edge**

Around the time Optio was released, so was Trident's Q-Zone. Both of the companies fought vigorously to be the better platform, effectively increasing update speed on Optio, leaving users happy. The two platforms were, and are, about equal in size.

In 2007, the Endio Edge was released as an all-new gaming PC by Endio. It did pretty well and came with the world wide web installed. Along with Endio's web-browser, Cybre.

Along with this, Endio bought the small game-making firm, "Jimusho Softworks" from Kamatari. Most people thought this was a waste of money, but it turned out well for Endio, as they had made now-popular games like *Alterplan*.

#### **2008 - 2012: Endio Eos laptop and other devices**

In 2012 Kudo Izu committed suicide, and Makusuueru Sato was given ownership of the company after being the COO for 3 years. Makusuueru Sato is also known as Maxwell Payne to people outside of Japan. Sato wanted to expand their technology industry, after seeing the success of the Endio Edge and Desktop. He had the designers design the best laptop that they could produce. In the end, the Eos was made. They also produced more games like Archelight and Defmania. Along with all of this, Phantom Games & Technology bought the rights to Detris for $10,000,000.

#### **2012 - 2018: Endio Cerebrus, and drawing endeavors**

In 2015, Endio released the Cerebrus laptop, designed by Sato himself, and it made a steady profit. At first, it was only released to Japan and North America, but it was later released in Europe and Australia in 2017 It was made to compete with Endio's partner-turned-rival Trident Innovation. In 2018, They released the Endio DY3D, sporting games like Detris, Archelite, Defmania, and Endogs 2. Around 2015, they also bought the rights to the Suihei drawing tablet. In 2017, the successor to the Suihei was the Suichoku display drawing tablet, now being used by professional artists around the world.

#### **2019: Tricon, Rrangai, and Merger**

In 2019, Endio released the program *Strife* which was a bundle that came with applications such as Strife Docs, Strife Sheets, Strife Slides, and Strife Messenger. The biggest of these was undoubtedly Strife Messenger.

Endio also released it's newest gaming PC, Solace, reaching third place on the PC leaderboards. It was announced at TriCon 2019.

The most popular Endio product in 2019 was designed by Jimusho Studios, *Hidaino I: Rrangai.* Hidaino I: Rrangai (Shorthand is Rrangai) was teased in late 2018 and released in August 2019. It is a single player RPG game that got a 95% rating and achieved first place on gaming leaderboards.

Along with that, in 2019, Endio expanded into Anime again, with the premiere season of the new show, "Kurasshukado".

In late 2019, Endio merged with its competitor, Mukō, to form Mukō Endio.

**2020: A new face**

In January 2020, Maxwell Payne died of pneumonia. After this, Egawa Sato, Maxwell's son, took charge of the company. He wants to "further the company into the next generation." by opening physical stores.

## Subsidiaries

List of Endio's Subsidaries:

Cybre

Strife

Jimusho Softworks

Denizen Mobile

Metanoia Software

## Influence

Endio Co, Ltd. sells to 32 different countries around the world.

* Canada
* U.S.
* Mexico
* Puerto Rico
* Dominican Republic
* Columbia
* Brazil
* South Africa
* Portugal
* France
* Germany
* U.K.
* Ireland
* Belgium
* Luxembourg
* Netherlands
* Italy
* Switzerland
* Norway
* Sweden
* Russia
* Greece
* Czech Republic
* Austria
* Hungary
* Poland
* South Africa
* India
* Japan
* South Korea
* Australia
* New Zealand

## Company Structure

Endio has grown into a large corporation, with over 500k employees around the globe.

### **Board of Directors**

#### Representative Directors

* Yashida Fujio
* Shoji Sachi

#### Directors

* Hino Sadatake, Senior Managing Executive Officer, General Manager of Entertainment Planning & Development, Supervisor of Business Development and Development Administration & Support
* Watabe Matsuo, Senior Executive Officer, General Manager of Platform Technology Development and Hardware Development Department
* Aurélien Cartier, Senior Executive Officer, General Manager of Marketing and Licensing, in charge of Advertising Department and Global Marketing Department
* Tahara Eba
* Kajiwara Nui, Outside Director
* Hatano Masutaro, Outside Director

### **Executive Officers**

#### Senior executive officers

* Egawa Sato, CEO of Endio
* Asari Maro, President and COO of Endio
* Asano Doi, COO of Endio America
* Katrine Åkerman, CFO of Endio
* Koike Kii, Senior Officer of Entertainment Planning & Development Division