(pictured above). In the late 1990s in Japan, several Japanese video game developers, including
Treasure,
Quintet,
Sting Entertainment, and
Game Arts, joined forces and established Game Developers Network (GD-NET). The purpose of GD-NET was to establish mutual assistance with one another. Members of GD-NET did not have the same financial backing like larger companies did, and believed that creating healthy relationships between them would increase their chances of surviving the industry landscape of the time. Companies under the network proposed a plan that would allow them to focus their resources on game development instead of production and promotion of their titles. GD-NET members established Entertainment Software Publishing (ESP) in November 1997. Youichi Miyaji, the president and CEO of Game Arts, was appointed president of the company. Additional funding was provided by
CSK Holdings, the parent company of
Sega. GD-NET members believed that ESP would allow them to gain more recognition within the industry, as companies such as Sega,
Nintendo, and
Sony Computer Entertainment would have taken credit for their works when they were published. Developed by Game Arts,
Grandia was released in 1997 to critical acclaim. Treasure's Saturn conversion of the arcade game
Radiant Silvergun was also released to acclaim for its gameplay and mechanics, and is cited among the best and most influential
shoot'em up games created.
Slayers Royal and its follow-up
Slayers Royal 2, both based on the
Slayers light novel and anime series, were also commercially successful. In 1998, Sega discontinued production of the Sega Saturn in Europe and North America amidst poor sales. While the Saturn was still being sold in Japan, Sega largely abandoned the system in favor of the
Dreamcast, which it released the same year. As such, ESP began to shift its publishing operations from Saturn to Dreamcast and other consoles like the
Nintendo 64. It published
Bangai-O for the latter console in 1999, which while critically successful was produced in limited quantities out of concern over its niche appeal. ESP commonly participated in the
Tokyo Game Show and other major video game events in the country, where they regularly presented their more popular titles such as
Silhouette Mirage. In 2002, ESP was acquired by Game Arts and became the latter's publishing division. In 2004, ESP was purchased by
D3 Publisher, a Japanese video game studio best known for its
Simple series of budget games. D3 purchased 100% of ESP's stock for a total of 120 million yen. ESP's track record and lineup of commercially successful games was the reason for the acquisition. ESP co-published several Japanese
massively multiplayer online games as well. It announced at the 2005 Tokyo Game Show it would also begin production of games for the
PlayStation 3. In 2008, the company partnered with Treasure, the only remaining GD-NET company to still have working relations with them, to form a publishing project known as "Treasure × ESP". The project lead to ESP publishing
Bangai-O Spirits for the DS, a critically successful sequel to
Bangai-O. On 1 April 2010, ESP and D3 Publisher were merged into the latter's parent
holding company, D3 Inc., wherein both ESP and D3 Publisher were dissolved, while D3 Inc. was renamed D3 Publisher. The year prior, D3 Inc. had been majority-acquired by
Namco Bandai Games. ==Games published==