Yuke's
Independent Japanese video game development studio specializing in wrestling and combat-sports licensed games. Legal entity: Yuke's Co. Ltd. (株式会社ユークス; also formerly known as Yuke's Future Media Creators). Headquartered in **Osaka, Japan**. **FOUNDED FEBRUARY 26, 1993 by Yukinori Taniguchi** (current company president) — name derived from Taniguchi's high school nickname (per Wikipedia 'Yuke's', MobyGames company 1937, Sega Retro). **SIGNATURE PRODUCT — WWE WRESTLING GAME SERIES:** Yuke's was for two decades the sole developer of THQ's (later 2K Sports') flagship WWE wrestling game franchise — WWF/WWE SmackDown!, WWE SmackDown vs. Raw, WWE 12/13/2K14/2K15/2K16/2K17/2K18/2K19, plus UFC Undisputed series (2009-2010 for THQ). Per GameSpot 'Yukes Behind the Scenes': 'Aki had a hand in helping Yuke's become the sole developer of WWE'. Worked with **AKI Corporation** (now N-Space Japan) on early N64 wrestling titles before AKI's exit from the genre. **2K20 EXIT:** Yuke's departed the WWE 2K series after WWE 2K19 (2018) — 2K SVG took main wrestling-game development in-house at Visual Concepts for WWE 2K20+. Post-WWE Yuke's continues independent dev work on smaller licensed titles. Independent — no parent corporation. MobyGames: 38 'Developed by' credits. WEBSITE (batch 1954): yukes.co.jp verified live (200, 'YUKE'S Co., Ltd.', English site at /en/); official corporate site confirms games division lineup and subsidiaries (Fine Co., Ltd., web/smartphone dev, est. Nov 1999); founded 26 Feb 1993 by Yukinori Taniguchi per Wikipedia.
- Type: Developer · Buyer
- Headquarters: Japan
- Activity taxonomy (by shipped credits): Development, Game development and engineering, Art, assets and fonts production services, Audio design and production services, Publishing, QA and testing services
- Credited games in the group: 13
Partners proven by shipped credits
- Kyos — Art, assets and fonts production services, 7 shared credits, 2015–2023
- Virtuos — Art, assets and fonts production services, 7 shared credits, 2015–2023
- Sound Ams — Audio design and production services, 6 shared credits, 2015–2025
- Lakshya Digital — Art, assets and fonts production services, 6 shared credits, 2015–2023
- 2K — Publishing, 6 shared credits, 2015–2018
- 2K Sports — collaboration, 6 shared credits, 2015–2018
- Mineloader — Art, assets and fonts production services, 5 shared credits, 2015–2025
- Sugarcut — Game development and engineering, 5 shared credits, 2015–2023
- Original Force — Art, assets and fonts production services, 5 shared credits, 2015–2023
- Digital Hearts — QA and testing services, 5 shared credits, 2015–2021
- Visual Concepts — Development, Game development and engineering, 5 shared credits, 2015–2018
- G-Style — Art, assets and fonts production services, 5 shared credits, 2015–2023
- pixeltamer.net — Game development and engineering, 4 shared credits, 2015–2018
- Pixelgun Studio — Art, assets and fonts production services, 4 shared credits, 2015–2018
- Lemon Sky Studios — Art, assets and fonts production services, 3 shared credits, 2016–2018
Source: Games Atlas (gamesatlas.app), based on MobyGames credits and Games Atlas analysis. Games Atlas does not estimate revenue or report the performance of individual games. Profile: https://gamesatlas.app/companies/yuke-s