Yuke's Co. Ltd.

Company type	Kabushiki gaisha
Industry	Video games
Founded	February 26, 1993; 32 years ago (1993-02-26)
Founder	Yukinori Taniguchi
Headquarters	Osaka , Japan
Products	WWE 2K series(2000–2018)[1]
Number of employees	265 (January 2025[2])
Subsidiaries	Fine Co., Ltd.
Website	yukes.co.jp/en

Yuke's Co. Ltd. is a Japanesevideo game developer based inOsaka. It was established on February 26, 1993 byYukinori Taniguchi. The company is best known for developing theWWE video game series, based on theprofessional wrestling promotionof the same name, until 2018.

Founded in 1993, Yuke's was named after founder Yukinori Taniguchi's high school nickname. The first two games that the company developed were the platform gameHermie Hopperhead and thepro wrestling gameToukon Retsuden.^[3] The latter title was a best-seller in Japan.^[4] ThoughActivision purchased the rights to publish the game in North America and began localization work,^[4] only the first game was localized, becomingPower Move Pro Wrestling with a different roster of wrestlers.

In November 1999, Yuke's established Fine Co., Ltd. as a wholly owned subsidiary focused on online systems and mobile game development.^[5]

Beginning in 2000, Yuke's began to develop wrestling games forTHQ andJakks Pacific based on theWorld Wrestling Federation (WWF; now WWE). They were recommended to THQ byAki, who had developed their own line of wrestling games.^[3]

From 2005 to 2012, Yuke's owned 54% ofNew Japan Pro-Wrestling, the topprofessional wrestling promotion in Japan.^[6][7][8]

In August 2019, then-series publisher2K Games announced it had movedWWE game development to California-based studioVisual Concepts.^[1] Earlier that year, Yuke's had revealed its frustration over what it had been able to achieve with recentWWE 2K games and suggested that its relationship with publisher 2K Sports was partly responsible. Producer Hiromi Furuta revealed that Yuke's had established a new development team tasked with creating a rival wrestling IP, with the intention of reinvigorating its staff.^[9] On November 10, 2020,All Elite Wrestling (AEW) announced an upcoming console game developed by Yuke's, led byDef Jam Vendetta andWWF No Mercy director, Hideyuki "Geta" Iwashita,;^[10] this game would later go on to becomeAEW Fight Forever.

Instead of THQ and Jakks Pacific, Yuke's published seven WWF/E games in Japan, starting withWWF SmackDown! in 2000 and finishing withWWE SmackDown! vs. Raw 2006 in 2005. These games were renamed to "Exciting Pro Wrestling 0-7" and released for PlayStation consoles.^[11] On October 18, 2006, WWE sued THQ and Jakks Pacific over alleged improper sales of WWE video games in Japan, and other countries in Asia, concerning that both parties were sub-licensing publication rights to Yuke's, which they were not allowed to do.^[12] As a result of this, THQ formed a new division in Japan, andWWE SmackDown vs. Raw 2007 was released in Japan in 2006 directly by THQ and Jakks Pacific, instead of Yuke's. This satisfied WWE, and the lawsuit was thrown out.^[13]

These are the list of games that the company developed.^[5]

• Official website

• Video game companies established in 1993
• Video game companies of Japan
• New Japan Pro-Wrestling
• Video game development companies
• Japanese companies established in 1993
• Companies based in Osaka Prefecture

• Articles with short description
• Short description matches Wikidata
• Use mdy dates from February 2025
• Official website different in Wikidata and Wikipedia