| Type | Defunct |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer and video game industry |
| Founded | 2004-07-01 |
| Headquarters | Japan |
| Key people | CEO Atsushi Inaba Vice-President Kenzo Tsujimoto Director Yoshifumi Yamashita Senior Manager Haruhiro Tsujimoto Managing Director Tamio Oda Design Lead Shinji Utsunomiya Lead Compouser Dragan Tosic Software Engineer Ryuta Takahashi |
| Products | Viewtiful Joe Ōkami God Hand |
| Parent | Capcom |
Clover Studio (クローバースタジオ株式会社 Kurōbāsutajio Kabushikigaisha) was an independent Japanese development studio, funded by Capcom Japan. Clover Studio developed the PlayStation 2 port of Viewtiful Joe, both versions of Viewtiful Joe 2 for the Nintendo GameCube and PlayStation 2, and the PlayStation 2 titles Ōkami and God Hand. The name "clover" is an abbreviation of "creativity lover"[1] as well as the Japanese syllables mi ("three") and ba ("leaf") coming from the names of Shinji Mikami and Clover's Atsushi Inaba.[2]
The studio consisted largely of existing Capcom R&D talent, who had formed the company (then called Studio 9), in order to achieve greater executive control, and thus creative freedom, but like Sega's semi-autonomous studios did in the early 2000s. The studio focused largely on creating New IPs rather than sequels. When these new IPs failed to perform on par with Capcom's more popular series, Capcom attempted to merge the studio back into their internal R&D. Those at the studio chose instead to leave the company, and Clover was closed.
Some of the key members of Clover founded Seeds Inc., a new development group[3] that merged with ODD Incorporated in October of 2007 to form Platinum Games,[4] which has since built up a staff overwhelmingly composed of former Clover staff. Other members (including the art director of Ōkami) went to join Ignition Entertainment at their Tokyo development studio and are currently working on the game El Shaddai. On October 28, 2010, one of the most prominent members of Clover Studio and then Platinum Games, Shinji Mikami, joined ZeniMax Media in a deal where ZeniMax acquired his new development studio Tango Gameworks.[5]
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