iQue, Ltd. is a Chinese video game localization and development company located in Suzhou. It was founded in 2002 as a joint venture between Taiwanese-American engineer Wei Yen and Nintendo to manufacture and distribute Nintendo hardware and software for mainland China.
iQue released the iQue Player in 2003 and went on to distribute several Nintendo handheld systems under the iQue brand. By 2013, the company became a wholly owned subsidiary of Nintendo and later shifted its focus away from hardware to localization, technical support, and internal development work.
Its Chinese name, Shényóu, is a double entendre meaning "to make a mental journey".
History
Nintendo established iQue in December 2002 as a joint venture with Wei Yen, a veteran of earlier Nintendo hardware collaborations. Yen had previously served as senior vice president at Silicon Graphics, where he contributed to Project Reality, the hardware project that became the Nintendo 64. After leaving SGI, Yen founded BroadOn, which developed the cryptographic security system used in the iQue Player to deter piracy.[3]