JAPAN'S BEST-DESIGNED OFFICES
01 · Kita-Shinjuku, Tokyo
FROMSOFTWARE
The corridor
FromSoftware, the studio behind Dark Souls, Sekiro and Armored Core, works in Shinjuku Front Tower.
Read the FROMSOFTWARE office →COLLECTIONS › GAME STUDIOS
Collection
Game studios — 12 of Japan’s best
Where Japan’s games are made — studios in Tokyo, Osaka and Kyoto.
Japan’s game industry works from offices that are mostly closed to the public. These studios show the development floors, meeting rooms and lounges behind the games.
02 · Shinagawa, Tokyo
ATLUS
The counter
The studio behind Persona and Megami Tensei gives each of its meeting rooms a letter and a port city, and states that no two of them share a wall colour.
Read the ATLUS office →
03 · Osaka
CYGAMES
The entrance
Cygames states its office policy in one line — developers should be able to concentrate on developing in comfort — and then spends it on a library of ten thousand volumes, a bouldering wall, a massage room and a motion-capture stage with 168 cameras in it.
Read the CYGAMES office →
04 · Tokyo
GUNGHO
The entrance, above Tokyo Station
GungHo Online Entertainment, the studio behind Puzzle & Dragons, works above Tokyo Station.
Read the GUNGHO office →
05 · Roppongi, Tokyo
COLOPL
The reception desk
COLOPL, the studio behind Dragon Quest Walk and Shironeko Project, moved into Tokyo Midtown in 2022 with two goals: stop infection spreading, and get people talking again.
Read the COLOPL office →
06 · Meguro, Tokyo
Akatsuki
The lobby, with flowers
Akatsuki has made games and entertainment since 2010, and builds its office on one idea: that excitement is easier to feel in a space made for it.
Read the Akatsuki office →
07 · Kyoto
PONOS
The company name, on the wall
The studio behind The Battle Cats spreads across a Kyoto head office with aquariums in it, an Edo office on two floors, and a third called Stella — and puts its name on a wall of moss.
Read the PONOS office →
08 · Tokyo & Osaka
HEXA DRIVE
The entrance, with the hexagon cut into the wall
HEXA DRIVE runs two studios, one in Shinagawa in Tokyo and one on the 28th floor of Namba Parks Tower in Osaka.
Read the HEXA DRIVE office →
09 · Kichijoji, Tokyo
INDIESZERO
The development floor
indieszero moved in October 2024 to keep its whole studio on one floor: the 9th of a new building a minute from Kichijoji station.
Read the INDIESZERO office →
11 · Shimogyō, Kyoto
HAPPY ELEMENTS
The café floor
Cacalia Studio, the Kyoto production arm of Happy Elements, gives one entire floor to a café with a tatami bay in it, takes the telephones off the working floor, and keeps a soundproof room for writing music.
Read the HAPPY ELEMENTS office →
12 · Shibuya, Tokyo
Square Enix
Reception
Ten floors of a new tower at Shibuya Sakura Stage, with a two-hundred-seat hall that has a dungeon built into it and a development floor lit low enough to judge colour properly.
Read the Square Enix office →Questions
About this collection
Which offices in Japan feature in “Game studios”?
WALL has picked 12: FROMSOFTWARE (Kita-Shinjuku, Tokyo), ATLUS (Shinagawa, Tokyo), CYGAMES (Osaka), GUNGHO (Tokyo), COLOPL (Roppongi, Tokyo), Akatsuki (Meguro, Tokyo), PONOS (Kyoto), HEXA DRIVE (Tokyo & Osaka), INDIESZERO (Kichijoji, Tokyo), DIMPS (Osaka), HAPPY ELEMENTS (Shimogyō, Kyoto), Square Enix (Shibuya, Tokyo).
Where in Japan are these offices?
They are spread across 3 places: Tokyo (8), Osaka (3), Kyoto (2).
Can I visit these offices?
Most are private workplaces and not open to the public. WALL reports on them from the companies’ own published material; each office page links to its source.
Keep exploring
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Meeting rooms
Glazed, named, hung in the air — meeting rooms in Japanese offices, from four-seat rooms to boardrooms.
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Desks & work floors
Bench desks, window desks and sit-stand desks — where the actual work happens in Japanese offices.
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Coffee & drink corners
Free drinks, coffee servers and vending machines — how Japanese offices keep people going.
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Seats with a view
Window counters and lounges above the city — the most popular seats in offices in Japan.
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Massage & relaxation rooms
Where people in Japanese offices go to rest — massage tables, massage chairs and a quiet room.
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Office libraries
Shelves of books inside the office — lent out, shared and re-curated by the staff themselves.
