SNK

Original SNK's logo.

SNK Corporation (株式会社SNK, Kabushiki-gaisha SNK), originally founded as SNK, is a Japanese company founded on July 22, 1978 by Eikichi Kawasaki. It produces and publishes arcade games and video games. The name "SNK" stems from the Japanese words Shin Nihon Kikaku ("新日本企画", lit. "New Japan Project"). Initially, the company sought to create hardware and software for business customers, but it quickly moved onto the gaming industry.

History

SNK's original headquarters in Esaka, Osaka.

SNK was originally founded in 1973 as "Shin Nihon Kikaku" and reorganized in July 22, 1978 as a stock company (kabushiki gaisha) under the name of "Shin Nihon Kikaku Corporation". When Eikichi Kawasaki noticed the rapid growth that was occurring in the coin-operated video game market, he expanded Shin Nihon Kikaku to include the development and marketing of stand-alone coin-op games.

The company was nicknamed "Shin Nihon Kikaku" in katakana at first, but since 1981 it has been changed to "SNK" ("エス・エヌ・ケイ", lit. "Esu・Enu・Kē") by taking the initials from the Roman alphabet (Shin Nihon Kikaku). The English copyright notation was also "SNK CORPORATION". It established itself in Sunnyvale, California, to deliver its own brand of coin-operated games to arcades in North America. SNK chose John Rowe to head its American operation.

SNK Corporation of America Office in 1995

In April 1986, the company name was changed to the nickname "SNK", but the registered trade name had to be SNK Corporation ("株式会社エス・エヌ・ケイ", lit. "Kabushiki-gaisha Esu・Enu・Kē"). This is because the Ministry of Justice at that time did not approve the registration of a trade name using the alphabet, as for ADK, NMK, TDK and RKB Mainichi Broadcasting. In November 1986, the American subsidiary SNK Corporation of America was born in Sunnyvale, California. In March 1988, SNK staff moved to a building in Suita, Osaka, Japan.

The second and more successful era ranged from 1986 to 2001, with arcade classics like Ikari Warriors, Psycho Soldier, Fatal Fury, Art of Fighting, Samurai Shodown, The King of Fighters, Metal Slug as well the release of several arcade and home videogame systems under the Neo Geo brand.

SNK's farewell image for fans. Posted on their old official site.

Due to financial problems in 2000, the company was bought by Aruze, the producers of various casino machines.

SNK closed all American, Canadian and European operations, on June 13, 2000. The company sold rights to distribution in North America for MVS arcade systems and Neo Print photo systems. It licensed North American localizations of some console releases to outside companies.

With low morale and an unclear future, many of the company's employees left their jobs. Some joined rivals Capcom and Arc System Works, and others moved on to found the developer Dimps. Kawasaki, along with five other former SNK executives, funded the formation of BrezzaSoft, which continued to develop Neo Geo games such as The King of Fighters 2001.

Today it has updated the official site of the SNK company (www.neogeo.co.jp), where it says goodbye to all its fans and clients who since 1978 have made this a company that creates games of excellent quality, mostly over 23 years.

With a total debt of about 38 billion yen, SNK gave up on voluntary reconstruction, and on April 2, 2001, SNK applied for the application of the Civil Rehabilitation Law to the Osaka District Court, effectively going bankrupt. The application was accepted, and the revitalization procedures were once proceeded, and the head office returned to Suita City, Osaka Prefecture. The district court decided to abolish the civil rehabilitation proceedings on October 1, of the same year, and declared bankruptcy on October 30.

Licenses for SNK's game production and development rights to its franchises were sold to several other companies. These included BrezzaSoft, which produced The King of Fighters 2001, such as South Korean-based Eolith, which produced The King of Fighters franchise between 2001 and 2002, and Mega Enterprise, which produced Metal Slug 4. In 2001, the Neo Geo family ended. It was briefly revived 11 years later with the Neo Geo X.

Established as Playmore Corporation on August 1, 2001. It was originally an affiliate of the former SNK. Initially, it was a legal company specializing in copyright management services, and it would be incorrect to refer to the former SNK as its predecessor company. 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.

To re-establish its presence in the gaming market, Playmore acquired BrezzaSoft and its former SNK developers, as well as Japan-based Neo Geo developer Noise Factory. Sun Amusement, a Japanese commercial games distributor, was acquired by SNK to provide the company with an arcade distribution outlet in Japan. International offices were established in South Korea, Hong Kong, and the United States under the name SNK NeoGeo for commercial and, later, consumer gaming distribution. 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. In the same year, SNK purchased ADK shortly after it filed for bankruptcy. Previously, ADK was a third-party company that had been heavily associated with SNK since the late 1980s. SNK Playmore's operations in Japan already largely resembled the original company: SNK employed many employees who left after its bankruptcy filing and occupied its former building.

With anthologies, re-releases of classic catalog and new titles for the seventh/eight generations of consoles the sales were not so outstanding and the reception mixed by critics and gamers, this forced SNK Playmore to put move focus on Pachinko business and mobile games; this situation became more evident at the first half of the 2010s where The King of Fighters XIII was the only fighting game released for arcade and home consoles. The retro handled console Neo Geo X was released during this period.

In March 2015, Leyou Technologies Holdings submitted a disclosure of interest document to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, highlighting a "possible investment in a renowned Japanese video game developer". Later in August, it was announced that Chinese web and mobile game giant 37Games, and asset management firm Orient Securities had formed a joint venture to invest in Ledo Millennium, a subsidiary of Leyou. Through Ledo, the venture acquired Kawasaki's 81.25% stake in SNK Playmore for $63.5 million. The reason given for the acquisition was to gain rights to SNK Playmore's intellectual property, and further develop them by following Marvel Entertainment's approach to mass media. The joint venture planned to integrate games, comics, film, and television in a media franchise.

With the purchase completed, SNK Playmore signaled a shift in the company's strategy, which had previously been focused more on the production of pachislot and mobile games than its traditional area, console and arcade games. In 2015, SNK Playmore announced that it was withdrawing from the pachislot market, choosing instead to focus on console and mobile gaming, as well as character licensing using its popular characters such as Mai Shiranui, Ukyo Tachibana, Nakoruru, and Haohmaru. Additionally, all of the aforementioned characters made their appearance as guest characters in a mobile multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA), Wangzhe Rongyao, roughly translated to English as Honor of Kings, which is the world highest-grossing game of all time as well as the most downloaded mobile app globally.

On April 25, 2016, SNK officially dropped the "Playmore" name from its corporate logo and reintroduced its old slogan, "The Future Is Now", to signify "a return to SNK's rich gaming history". A legal name change from SNK Playmore Corporation to SNK Corporation followed on December 1, 2016, to more firmly establish SNK Playmore as the successor to the old SNK brand and legacy. The King of Fighters XIV, the first entry in its series in more than half a decade, was released in 2016. In July 2018, SNK released the NEOGEO Mini, a miniature console based on the design of the company's Japanese arcade machines. It was pre-loaded with forty classic Neo Geo games.

Dropping the Playmore word, the first SNK efforts were focused on The King of Fighters franchise (XIV, CGI-animated series Destiny and a mobile game).

In June 2019, the 12th entry in the Samurai Shodown series was released for the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, followed by an arcade version in October and a Nintendo Switch version later in the year.

The King of Fighters XIV received generally favorable reviews. Critics praised the game's fighting system as enjoyable for both new players and fighting game experts, but criticized its graphics as inferior to other fighting games released for the eighth generation of video game consoles. SNK confirmed a sequel, The King of Fighters XV, at EVO 2019.

On September 4, 2019, Nintendo announced that Fatal Fury protagonist and The King of Fighters character Terry Bogard would be added as a downloadable, playable character to Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, with a planned release in November 2019. Terry was made available on November 6, alongside a The King of Fighters-based stage and 50 songs from various SNK series.

In November 2020, the MiSK Foundation, a non-profit organization owned by the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed Bin Salman, acquired a 33.3% share of SNK through its subsidiary, Electronic Gaming Development Company (EGDC), with the intention to acquire a further 17.7% share at a later time as to gain controlling interest in the company.

In April 2021, three board members dispatched from Saudi Arabia were appointed. EGDC announced its intention to acquire 51% through additional purchases. In February 2022, EGDC's ownership share was increased to 96.18%. In May, of the same year, SNK notifies the delisting of your shares of the Korea Exchange (KOSDAQ) and EGDC's future plans to acquire all of the company's shares becoming its wholly owned subsidiary. On March 20, 2023, SNK relocated its main headquarters to Yodogawa-ku, Osaka.

The King of Fighters Game Credits

As SNK Corporation (1994-2001)

• The King of Fighters '94 (1994) - developer, Neo Geo publisher.
• The King of Fighters '95 (1995) - developer and publisher (NG, Saturn).
• The King of Fighters '96 (1996) - developer and publisher (NG, Saturn, PS1).
• The King of Fighters '97 (1997) - developer and publisher (NG, Saturn, PS1).
• The King of Fighters '98: The Slugfest (1998) - developer and publisher (NG, PS1).
• The King of Fighters: Kyo (1998) - PlayStation publisher.
• The King of Fighters '99: Millennium Battle (1999) - developer and publisher (NG, Dreamcast).
• The King of Fighters 2000 (2000) - developer, Neo Geo publisher.

As Playmore Corporation (2001-2003)

• The King of Fighters 2001 (2001) - publisher (NG AES, Dreamcast, PS2).
• The King of Fighters 2002: Challenge to Ultimate Battle (2002) - developer and publisher (NG, Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox).

As SNK Playmore Corporation (2003-2016)

• The King of Fighters 2003 (2003) - developer and publisher (NG, PS2, Xbox).
• The King of Fighters Neowave (2004) - developer and publisher (Atomiswave, PS2, Xbox).
• KOF: Maximum Impact (2004) - publisher (PS2, Xbox).
• The King of Fighters XI (2005) - developer and publisher (Atomiswave, PS2).
• KOF: Maximum Impact 2 (2006) - developer and PlayStation 2 publisher.
• KOF: Maximum Impact Regulation "A" (2007) - developer and publisher (Taito Type X2, PS2).
• The King of Fighters XII (2009) - developer and publisher (Taito Type X2, PS3, Xbox 360).
• The King of Fighters XIII (2010) - developer and publisher (Taito Type X2, PS3, Xbox 360, PC).

As SNK Corporation (2016-present)

• The King of Fighters XIV (2016) - developer and publisher (PS4, PC).
• The King of Fighters XV (2022) - developer and publisher (PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X/S, PC).

Gallery

Original logo, Shin Nihon Kikaku (1978–1981)

SNK logo, Shin Nihon Kikaku Corp. (1981–1986)

SNK logo, SNKGROUP (1986–1988)

Original SNK's logo (version 1) (1988–2001)

Original SNK's logo (version 2) (1988–2001)

"The Future Is Now", SNK logo (1988–2001)

Playmore company logo (2001–2003)

SNK Playmore company logo (Blue SNK color and Green Playmore color) (2003–2013)

SNK Playmore company logo (Green Playmore color) (2003–2013)

SNK Playmore company logo (SNK Playmore Blue color) (2013–2016)

SNK Corporation company logo (2016–present)

SNK, "The Future Is Now" logo (2016–present)

Videos

Logo

Neo Geo AES MVS Intro

Presentacion NEOGEO Giga power

Neo geo pocket intro

SNK CORPORATION - SOUND LOGO

Promotional Videos

SNK corporate presentation (1993)

My visit to SNK USA in 1995

ALL ABOUT SNK【SNKのすべて】

【DVD】SNKのすべて CM

【2枚組DVD】ＳＮＫのすべて（各チャプター冒頭部分抜粋）

External links

• Former SNK Official page at Internet Web Archives
• SNK Corp. of America official page at Internet Web Archives
• SNK Homepage official page at Internet Web Archives
• SNK Official
• SNK USA
• SNK History
• SNK at Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• SNK Wiki entry on the company with more detailed information.