Arzest Corporation (株式会社アーゼスト) is a Japanese video game developer formed on June 25, 2010, by Naoto Ohshima (a former character designer for the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise), Yoji Ishii, and key members of their previous studio, Artoon, and based in Yokohama. Its name is a portmanteau of the words "art" and "zest".[2]
History
Arzest was founded on June 25, 2010, after Yoji Ishii left AQ Interactive, where he served as president and CEO upon the company's acquisition of Artoon in May 2004. Around the same time, Artoon was absorbed into AQ Interactive. Arzest is based in the former Artoon offices in Yokohama. The studio employs approximately 80 people, a dozen of them former Sega and Artoon staff.
Arzest started off working on select mini-games in Wii Play: Motion for Nintendo, with whom the studio would work with on numerous occasions, developing such titles as Yoshi's New Island, as well as content updates to the Nintendo 3DS application StreetPass Mii Plaza (namely the addition of SpotPass features to the mini-game Puzzle Swap, among others).
Arzest collaborated with